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“I toured the light; so many foreign roads, for Emma, forever ago.”

Something like Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water, or Nick Drake’s Pink Moon, or Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy’s Master and Everyone, music that is both beautiful but somehow cool, simple but thoughtful, alone but seeking to connect, heartfelt but not overwhelming – that is Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago.

“There’s a black crow sitting across from me; his wiry legs are crossed
And he’s dangling my keys – he even fakes a toss
Whatever could it be
That has brought me to this loss?”

It’s hard to tell if this record is entirely about loss, but it is certainly introspective and personal, the way we all get after a break-up.  She is in there throughout, sometimes aggressively in love and sometimes sinister and indifferent, poetic references that imply an otherworldly magic, left behind as dream remnants, pure feeling, a metaphor for the many things held close to the heart.

“Sold my cold knot
A heavy stone
Sold my red horse for a venture home
To vanish on the bow —
Settling slow”

There is a theory that she, at times, takes the form of a long-lost band.

“(Or so the story goes)”

Justin Vernon is Bon Iver (pronounced bone ee-vair).  Bon Iver was born in winter (a riff on “bon hiver” – French for good winter), a Wisconsin winter, spent in a hunting cabin after the disbanding of DeYarmond Edison, Vernon’s indie quartet.  They were all old friends.

“Go find another lover;
To bring a… to string along
With all your lies,
You’re still very lovable.

Justin’s thick falsetto can be icy cold, sometimes alone, oftentimes in overdub.

The instruments, resurrected from an icy thaw, unplayed for a time, wake-up slowly, appear without warning, and leave again, certain to be missed.

The music moves from thin to thick, from a limp to a rumble, changing subtly, like the ebb and flow of a cold winter wind.

Notables:

Here’s Skinny Love:

Come on skinny love just last the year
Pour a little salt we were never here
My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my
Staring at the sink of blood and crushed veneer

I tell my love to wreck it all
Cut out all the ropes and let me fall
My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my
Right in the moment this order’s tall

And I told you to be patient
And I told you to be fine
And I told you to be balanced
And I told you to be kind
And in the morning I’ll be with you
But it will be a different kind
And I’ll be holding all the tickets
And you’ll be owning all the fines

Come on skinny love, what happened here?
Suckle on the hope in light brassieres
My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my
Sullen load is full, so slow on the split

And I told you to be patient
And I told you to be fine
And I told you to be balanced
And I told you to be kind
And now all your love is wasted
And then who the hell was I?
And I’m breaking at the britches
And at the end of all your lines

Who will love you?
Who will fight?
Who will fall far behind?