6.3
Certainly For Emma, Forever Ago is an impossible record to be duplicated, even by the most versatile artist. The idea of an emotionally train wrecked small town Wisconsin boy who secluded himself from society in Wisconsin to create minimal, artful music that has been so well received by everyone is magnificent. Justin Vernon returns, this time with unlimited possibilities in a nice air conditioned studio without the emotional drive that pushed Emma so far ahead of the game in the indie community. Vernon creates a less then apt self-titled sophomore LP.
Nobody should expect another Emma from Vernon, but this sophomore act could be Vernon’s most defining album of his career as being an indicator towards being an artist without limitation or simple a one-and-done indie act that will be lost in history. Bon Iver, Bon Iver is messily recorded and doesn’t have a cohesive theme or defining sound to it, it sounds like clunky studio work. It sounds as though different instruments are randomly being played at parts and don’t fit into a space or area.
At moments the layering of Bon Iver is purely wrong and just simply doesn’t sound good. The ending to “Michicant”, a very forgettable track with Vernon’s most poor vocal appearance, has some of the most misplaced saxophone work on the album with hazy layers of seemingly random drones of sax. The puzzling of any track off Bon Iver is the cheesy ‘80s love song-ish “Beth / Rest”. What is Vernon thinking? He fills the first nine songs of the album with folk renditions that sound all right, and then Vernon dumps a terribly cheesy synthesizer-filled mess.
Sometimes Vernon creates some pretty nice, minimal, and magic moments. The wavy “Hinnom, TX” is what Vernon should sound like, as well as the intro “Perth” were Vernon finds a nice median between soft and over-blown as being easily the best track off the album. Sadly, Bon Iver rarely has any of those moments on it. As I mentioned earlier, I wasn’t looking for another Emma, but the direction Vernon went with this record is unbearably bad.
Vernon’s most prominent approach of Emma was his delicate, passionate vocals put forward and front behind his minimal acoustic music. The vocals on Bon Iver are very weak and pitchy. Emma’s vocals were about the same, but the backwoods, secluded qualities that surrounded them amplified them into something not as bothersome. But the studio quality music alongside Vernon’s vocals on Bon Iver just doesn’t work well.
As disappointing as Bon Iver may be with atrocious vocals, messy layering, and overall bad production values, non-Emma fans might find a light in Bon Iver, Bon Iver. While the rainy day fans of Emma will find nothing to like about his sophomore work. This poorly made record could simply be the infamous sophomore slump that many artists have found themselves in.
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