For Emma, Forever Ago

iTunes Review

Fans of Little Wings, Will Oldham, and Devendra Banhart are discovering Bon Iver, the musical id of Justin Vernon, who recorded the basic tracks for this solo debut at his father’s hunting cabin, deep in the Wisconsin woods. Camped out with a guitar and a desire for isolation and clear-eyed focus (plus “a few microphones and some aged recording equipment”), Vernon emerged after several snowy months with a batch of intimate and melancholy works that will warm any chilled heart (drums and the occasional horn and flute were added later). The sound of Bon Iver (pronounced as would the French for “good winter:” “bohn eevair”) isn’t too far from the path Vernon forged with DeYarmond Edison, his previous band, although the bare-bones nakedness of Bon Iver’s songs somehow seem warmer than the bare-bones songs of the band’s. The opening choral segment on “Lump Sum” is startlingly lush, enveloping the listener in an ambient haze. “The Wolves” also builds up to a surprisingly epic feel, but tracks like the beautiful “Flume” and “Skinny Love,”  with their unadorned acoustic guitar and simple vocals, put the listener right there in the North woods of Wisconsin, deep into a snowy winter.