Bon Iver

For Emma, Forever Ago
Self-released 2007
Re-released on Jagjaguwar, 2008

I'm late on this one, I know. Pitchfork reviewed it when it was a self-released title in '07, and everyone else raved about it earlier this year. But you know what? I work full time. I don't have the time or inclination to keep up with the newest and hottest. I listen to what I listen to and I like what I like. So there.

(This photo, by the way, is from the self-released version. The picture of the album cover of the re-released version that I was trying to steal from an Irish blog ended up being a picture of some guy's [shaved] junk covered in leeches when you clicked on the thumbnail. I know, eww, right?)

Anyways, Bon Iver. Now a band, originally a sad dude recovering from various sorts of trauma recording sad lonely songs in a sad lonely cabin in wintry Wisconsin. It is a quiet, delicate record, a lot like early Iron and Wine. And I dig it. It's perfect early morning waking up music, and perfect late afternoon chilling out music. He's got a nice falsetto, and the production is toned down and intimate.

I say go check it out.

Interestingly enough, on my Itunes, the song that directly follows Bon Iver is the Bongo Band's "Apache," which is basically the anti-Bon Iver.