Album Review: Bon Iver (Self-Titled)

Let me start this post with a preface: I was not going to review Bon Iver's new album in light of how everyone else in the world already had their say about it when it leaked. However, I came across a hilarious article listing all of the adjectives used by major reviewers to describe this album, and I now feel compelled to write a review that (I hope) does not rely on thin adjectives like "experimental," "breathtaking," "beardy," or "not something you would describe as angelic." If you want to make a list of the adjectives I use in this review, go ahead. My hope is that the list is not very long, and that it does not read like a page from a thesaurus (or, more accurately, www.thesaurus.com). Okay, preface over.
Now in a complete contradiction to that last paragraph, I would like to start this review with an adjective: full (easy one, right?). What I mean by the use of full is along the lines of "totally qualified, accepted, or empowered; complete in every particular," (via Webster's Dictionary). Within this album, Justin Vernon and company (a lot of company) manage to rotate through instruments, vocal effects, and styles with ease, creating an overall product that remains "full" throughout all of the changes.

Like the new album, this picture could easily be described as "plaid-y"

The opening track, "Perth," could probably fool those who have only ever listened to "Skinny Love" into thinking that this was Vernon's version of Bob Dylan's Newport Fiasco. However, this track (and album) is not the old music with amplification. The opening guitar line uses the audio effect of playing two notes next to each other to create a warble or "beat" in the sound, which usually signifies that either the player is terrible at tuning a guitar, or he/she knows something about audio effects. Within the larger context of the song, I'm just going to guess that this case is the latter. The two drum sets, multiple guitars, and horn section take that dissonance and agonize with it, creating what is probably the heaviest track on this album.
Things calm down with the next songs, "Minnesota, WI," and "Holocene," the former of which begins with an African rhythm soon replaced by 80's synth lines and Vernon's auto-tuned voice in the baritone register, a rarity on this album. The buildup of this song witnesses the reappearance of a distorted electric guitar, which fittingly appears after Vernon sings the line, "Never gonna break, never gonna break." You won't hear me personifying music very often (as I personally believe most of what passes as personification in music is total crap), but the heavy guitar and drums seem to bring with them whatever it is that could do the breaking.
Other notables on this album are "Hinnom, TX," and the radio-friendly "Calgary," which has unofficially appeared as the lead single from this album. "Hinnom, TX" again finds Vernon singing lower with a lot of slapback echo in the sound, creating a song that sounds very similar to Spoon's "The Ghost of You Lingers." "Calgary" and the final track "Beth / Rest" both sound like songs that didn't make it onto the Gayng's album Relayted. If that doesn't help you, the Itunes review of Relayted is the best piece of music writing in the history of music writing: "Gayngs sounds like an art-school loft party at four a.m., DJ’d by trip-hoppers who forgot to caffeinate for an all-nighter." So, um, there you are.

There are zero differences between this picture and Gayngs.

Speaking of Gayngs, those who have only listened to Vernon's work should probably check them out along with Volcano Choir. It's kind of a chicken and egg situation as to whether Vernon's work with these projects influenced the new Bon Iver sound or if Vernon's musical direction had already evolved before working with these other projects, but I think those who feel a little disoriented by this sound as opposed to the sound of For Emma would benefit from hearing these endeavors to better understand how this album isn't a complete departure from what Vernon has been doing.
While I can understand why people might not see the obvious connection between the new album and For Emma, the ethos of the sound has remained pretty constant from first album to second. I am using the idea of fullness to describe the new record, but even though For Emma contains probably 1/16th of the number of instruments as the new album, I would not hesitate to use the same label for both albums. While a different manifestation of the idea, For Emma contains harmonies and ideas that exploit the simple voice and guitar format to such a level that the new album, for all of its bombast, acts as the natural progression from the first. Now that Vernon has new toys at his disposal, he does not hold back in using all of them. The end result, as I said in the beginning, being a "full" sound. I'm not exactly what is full of, but I'm guessing maybe, "plaid-clad, mountain man, mythological, almost naive, raw-honey yacht rock." But that's just a guess.


As an addendum, I would like to apologize if my writing is convoluted in this post. I am going on few hours of sleep from driving to Iowa City to see Yo La Tengo last night, about which I will post quite soon. Thanks for reading.