Part of the beauty of
Bon Iver’s debut album,
For Emma, Forever Ago, was the intimate, backwoods feel of the recording and the simplicity of
Justin Vernon's soaring, open wound of a voice with only minimal musical backing to distract from its impact. Even though
Vernon had a few other people playing on the album, it was easy to imagine a solitary broken soul spilling his guts onto tape for hours at a time while the world went on without him. It’s was a truly aching, somewhat claustrophobic sound that was beautiful and unique. After a couple years in which his life was basically turned upside down thanks to the success of
For Emma,
Vernon’s second album is quite different. Where
For Emma was stripped down and intimate,
Bon Iver is packed with guest musicians, horn sections, strings, and extra vocalists. Within the expanded arrangements, there are still moments of tender beauty and restraint to remind you why
Bon Iver is worth caring about. The relatively restrained "Wash.," which pits
Vernon’s aching vocal orchestra against a jagged, repeating piano line (and only minimal strings and pedal steel), the first two-thirds of "Holocene," the simple and affecting "Michicant" -- these have hints of the grace and understated emotion that made
For Emma what it was. ~ Tim Sendra