From the first note, Bon Iver's debut album sounds like a lonely rumination in a safe and distant room somewhere. And it turns out that's just what it is. Justin Vernon moved himself into an isolated cabin in Wisconsin for a stretch of winter months, during which he wrote and recorded most of the songs that have come to make up For Emma, Forever Ago.
Unavoidably sad and nostalgic, the record weaves through emotional landscapes using the fittingly simple method of an acoustic guitar and his vocals, hoisted into falsetto. You can almost hear the sounds bouncing off of cabin walls surrounded in snow. The sparse, cold landscape that supported Vernon in his record making only enhances the visions that flow from him in music; visions of past love and loss that hasn't yet been set free. This is a record that reflects the clarity that comes from isolation after years full of clamor.
-Kaitlin Johnson
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