Bon Iver – Bon Iver (2011)

Bon Iver's self-titled second album is quite a departure from the debut album For Emma, Forever Ago. On the debut album, the band was pretty much just the frontman Justin Vernon, whereas on this album, there's a huge band comprising various different instruments. The songs have more electronic feel to them and lots of strange effects have been used in the instruments. In my opinion, this album is not nearly as good as the debut album was. The reason why the debut album was so great was that it was incredibly intimate and personal. You could picture Justin Vernon sitting in the isolated cabin writing these songs and singing his heart out. This second album is bloated with instruments. Sometimes it sounds quite spectacular, but the intimacy is gone and replaced by modern indie rock that is directed towards big concert venues.



Even though I started this post in a quite negative tone, I must say that this is definitely not a bad album. It just doesn't have the effect the first album had. If this was the first album I'd hear from Bon Iver, I would probably be perfectly happy with it. It's just when artists that I've loved lose the essence that I fell in love with, they become somewhat boring and it's difficult to appreciate them in the same way anymore.

The album starts with beautifully echoey electric guitars in the song Perth that builds up the music from quiet whispers to explosive drumming. Minnesota, WI has rawer guitar sounds that seem to draw some influences from 70's Americana like Neil Young but it's all been wrapped in super-modern blinking sounds. Holocene was nominated as the song of the year in Grammys. It has a great build-up and the melody is catchier than in other songs on this album, so I can understand its popularity. When it comes to songwriting, Towers sounds a lot like the debut album, but it would sound better in my opinion, had it been just played on a simple acoustic guitar. Michicant is one of my favourite songs on the album. It's proper beautiful slowcore that shows just how intimate Bon Iver can sound. Hinnom, TX is one of the most electronic sounding songs on the album. There are lots of echoes and beats that make it sound a bit like Owen Pallett. Wash. is a beautiful song with great string arrangements and minimalist pianos. Towards the end of the album, it gets worse. Calgary's space-organ sounds make it sound like so many other modern indie pop bands and takes the intimacy of Bon Iver so far from what it is at its best. The last song on the album, Beth/Rest is by far the worst song on the album. The cheap sounding 80's style synth sounds sound very corny and even the vocals have been occasionally distorted by autotune. If the beginning of the album was pretty good, this last song leaves a sour taste in your mouth.

Now, one thing that is really done with this album, is the music videos. Or at least the music video for Holocene. The gorgeous landscapes in the video really make me understand what this music is meant for. I wouldn't mind listening to this beauty surrounded by amazing mountains and lakes like the ones in the video. Where the debut album took you to a secluded spot in the woods, this second album opens up magnificent landscapes with full of air.

Even though I don't necessarily listen to this album that much, because of the aforementioned reasons, I have to say that I'm quite impressed that this album won a Grammy, because to me, that kind of music award has generally speaking lost all meaning because the choices are usually so poor. This is definitely not a bad album and I suggest you listen to it outdoors in magnificent landscapes.

Listen to the album on Spotify.