Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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50 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Subtle, Brilliant, February 19, 2008
Upon hearing "Skinny Love", probably the most accessible song on "For Emma, Forever Ago", it was running through my head the rest of the week as I played it over and over again. This should in no way denigrate the rest of the album, which packs a surprising punch in 9 subtle songs. It would be easy to just treat "For Emma..." as background music, but a careful listen reveals layers of melody overlaid by Justin Vernon's impressive vocals.
"The Wolves (Act I and II)" starts off slowly but builds into a powerful message at the album's core:
What might have been lost
Don't bother me
The title track "For Emma" further embellishes on what might have been lost with a mixture of trumpet and strained guitar. The crooning of "Creature Fear" builds into the wonderfully moody instrumental "Team".
It is often mentioned that this album was written over the course of 4 wintry months in a Wisconsin cabin. Stereotyping the quiet solitude of this album on its origins is unfair, however: this isn't just one of those singer/songwriter efforts you hear about some guy writing on his own out in the woods; it is the epitome of a singer/songwriter recording the heartfelt musings of life in isolation.
I highly recommend this album--it's subtle tones on first listen grow into brilliance.
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An Epic..... but not for Everybody, December 17, 2008
I can see why reaction to Bon Iver is so fragmented. There are those who hail it an instant epic, and others who think its pastoral nonsense. I'm somewhat in the middle - granted, these sorts of slow burner indie-folk albums aren't for everybody, but there is definitely something more special about this particular album - more so because its a concept album about that most universal of animals - lost love.
While the harmonies here are subdued and very, very slow-paced, the atmosphere of the entire album is what makes it work. There is a heady iciness to the entire venture, a sort of morbid sadness even, one that permeates every single track. Like Camille's "Le Fil" which had a drone running through each song (and for minutes after the last song played), this mood of sombre melancholy is present in spades on this album, and this also works for it.
The centerpiece is the two-suite "The Wolves" and the luminous "Team". None of these songs work especially well on their own. Like any good novel, each song blends into the other so that the album needs to be listened to in chronological order. Bon Iver's mastery of the sparse musical medium is astounding, and the way he makes every track here speak its' own unique brand of solitudinal longing, is a work of art waiting to be unraveled.
For many people who read this positive review, you might well buy this album and be shocked by the 'dull', 'slow' songs therein. This is in part true. It takes a while to 'get' what the artist is trying to accomplish here, but if you approach this as a rich experimental piece worth investing in, you just might reap some invaluable rewards.
Highly Recommended.
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34 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Can't Let Go, March 20, 2008
I'm afraid to listen to this record too much as I don't ever want it's brilliance to dim. Best thing I've heard in quite a while. Let's see, Feist was the last artist that moved me like this, not that Bon Iver is anything like that and he'll probably never be over played in trendy boutique, but there's something so deep and soulful in the plaintive whisperings on this record. Mostly it's quiet, mostly it's bone chillingly beautiful. I actually bought it with Neil Young's Live at Massey Hall, and they somehow speak to each other with a sidelong glance to Vashti Bunyan's Lookaftering. Take a chance on this like I did, you won't be disappointed. I hope to hear more from Bon Iver!
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