BON IVER: BON IVER, BON IVER (2011)
1) Perth; 2) Minnesota, WI; 3)
Holocene; 4) Towers; 5) Michicant; 6) Hinnom, TX; 7) Wash.; 8) Calgary; 9)
Lisbon, OH; 10) Beth / Rest.
No fewer than seven different musicians
accompany Justin Vernon on his sophomore stab at a masterpiece, which should prompt
the obvious question: «How the heck did all these people fit within one log
cabin in the woods of Wisconsin? Must have been really crammed out there!» Then you learn that the album was not
recorded in a log cabin at all, but in an abandoned veterinarian clinic in
Fall Creek, remodeled as a recording studio. Still sounds romantic, although
one would expect it to be somehow reflected in the recording — a couple of
songs about being kind to animals wouldn't hurt, and yet I can find no traces.
Of course, with Bon Iver's lyrics never making figurative sense, let alone
literal, you can never be sure.
The move from acoustic minimalism to denser
art-pop arrangements paid off brilliantly: most reviewers were happy beyond
measure, since they could amply concentrate on discussing the Important
Artistic Reasons behind the move, and praise the Important Artist for
Progressive Artistic Growth, shown so early on in his career. A few disgruntled
voices complained that the growth was actually Regressive, and picketed April
Base Studios with signs reading JUDAS and BACK TO THE LOG CABIN and EMMA IS NOT
HAPPY. (In their imaginations, at least). But even those voices generally
acknowledged that the songs were still great, it's just the idea of developing
a bigger sound for them that didn't quite work out.
In fact, the atmosphere on Bon Iver, Bon Iver did not change a whole lot from the minimalistic
soundscapes of For Emma. The basic
vibes, moods, goals, structures remain exactly the same. The falsetto singing
has no plans of going anywhere (although, for honesty's sake, Vernon shows a
little more range this time around); nor do the lyrics show any signs of
advancing from sheer nonsense to, at the very least, some plain old surrealism.
We got to give some credit to the Artist. Like so many of them, he is struggling
to build himself his own personal dream world, since none of the others seem to
be satisfactory enough. This dream world bears a passing resemblance to the
United States of America, because it is also divided into states, and its
towns and cities sometimes even have the same names as the corresponding US
locations (ʽLisbon, OHʼ), although some of the locations are quite confusing
(ʽMinnesota, WIʼ?) and others could even be offensive to certain Americans (ʽHinnom,
TXʼ — you Texans do realize that ʽHinnomʼ has the same root as Gehenna, right?).
In this dream world, people mostly talk in
disjointed, impressionistic associations; play slow, soft, traditionally
melodic music; sing in sweet voices, usually multi-tracking them along the way;
and always exude a mixed happy-sad feeling because, after all, there are very
few things in life over which one couldn't or shouldn't get happy and sad at the same time. If, every once
in a while, you start getting the feeling that it all sounds discomfortingly
close to banal 1980s-style adult contemporary, just shake it off. According to
a Pitchforkmedia reviewer, it was a brave
move on Justin Vernon's side to move things so close to 1980s adult
contemporary, and who are we to argue with that? 1980s artists recorded crappy
music without understanding how crappy it was (and how much more crappy it
would sound with each passing year); recording crappy music with such an understanding is definitely
a far braver move.
It is true that bringing in extra people at
least helped to make some of these songs acquire extra dynamics. ʽPerthʼ, for
instance, gradually expands from a pretty guitar flourish to bombastic martial
drum patterns and then into a veritable sea of sound with synthesizers, horns,
and shrill electric lead lines that is quite far removed from log cabin
isolationism — and yet, at the same time, does not really create any different
type of mood. It could have been a fantastic track if the flourish in question
worked in a trance-inducing manner, and the drum patterns and the wall of sound
were gelling with it in some sort of meaningful way. To my ears, they don't:
the guitar pattern is boring (and, after a while, quite annoyingly boring), the
martial drums make no sense, and the wall of sound is neither structured well
enough to punctuate the senses, nor dares to whip its brief traces of
aggressive atonality into something genuinely alive — for fear that some people
might dare to suppose a «rocking» strain to this very, very, very peaceful
experience, I guess.
I could write a similar diatribe against just
about every song on the album, which all range from staggeringly boring
(ʽMichicantʼ is a straightahead criminal offense against the slide guitar) to
mildly passable (ʽTowersʼ has a cozy country-pop drive, and the strings that
double the slide guitars are an inventive touch) to almost good (the first
half of ʽMinnesotaʼ, with its active fuzz bass lines, is the album's only
«gutsy» moment). But what's the use? Just like For Emma, Bon Iver will
work for you if you can feel it for this guy, or, more precise, if this guy
makes you feel it for him. I feel nothing. All the ingredients are there, but
they are all inserted in the wrong order, in wrong amounts, in the wrong
handling.
When they get around to closing the album, the
desire to strangle the producer becomes almost unbearable: as much as I try to,
I just cannot interpret ʽBeth / Restʼ, with its electronic drums and keyboards,
as a «brave» decision on the songwriter's part — I can only interpret it as a
subconscious tribute to one of the miriads of tepid ballads he must have been
hearing on the radio when he was six or seven years old. Please do not count me
in on this game; I refuse to accept these rules that allow «The Artist» to pass
off bland Eighties nostalgia as «Modern Art». It is not a sin to be infected
with any sort of influence, even Kim Wilde — it is a sin to extol the very fact of your being influenced as your
artistic statement. And no, masking that influence with sets of schizophasic
lyrics that could just as well be machine-produced does not help.
I do not think that Bon Iver, Bon Iver is any «better» or «worse» than For Emma. Technically, it has a
different sound, but substantially, nothing has changed. Except for my
suspicion that the existence and appraisal of Bon Iver confirms that, on an
official level, «indie» has become as much of a rotting corpse as everything
else, and that the wheel has completed its next cycle — the so-called «independent
musical press» has advanced to approximately the same level of credibility as Rolling
Stone. Yep, just my humble personal opinion, nothing else. And a heartfelt thumbs down
— the most sincerely emotional outburst from me that could be associated with
this record.
Check "Bon Iver, Bon Iver" (MP3) on Amazon
This is a pretty awful album. As someone who actually liked "For Emma..." (and still do, so shoot me!) I was (and continue to be) baffled by the praise heaped on this stiff - further evidence that music critics are more in love with trends and bandwagon jumping than actual music.
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed that anyone can sit through this mimsy chuff!
"Beth / Rest" is shite of the highest order - or in fact to call it so might sully the good name of "shite".
Tim M
At some point the whole modern "Indie"-sphere is going to have to reconcile it's "stuff white people like" problem. You have various artists of the same dynamic ilk: Grizzly Bear, the National, Bon Iver, Beirut etc. just straight up losing the purpose of what makes alternative music... "progressive". It seems that there is a regression back to the mean of hyping up the lazy, half-worn stuff of yore like crappy-era Leonard Cohen, Christopher Cross, Putamayo/Rough Guide glossy Baltic pop to, let's be honest, musically naive ears and thinking that you've struck some new found sense of alternative.
ReplyDeleteIf the alternative Bon Iver and other artists of this ilk are presenting is just the same conformist sound of before, why bother gussying it up with modern production and presenting it as some grand artistic statement... in the end you're still metaphorically-speaking an artist presenting a nice enough Instagram and pretending it's the next coming of Monet.
_"In this dream world, people mostly talk in disjointed, impressionistic associations; play slow, soft, traditionally melodic music; sing in sweet voices, usually multi-tracking them along the way; and always exude a mixed happy-sad feeling because, after all, there are very few things in life over which one couldn't or shouldn't get happy and sad at the same time. If, every once in a while, you start getting the feeling that it all sounds discomfortingly close to banal 1980s-style adult contemporary, just shake it off. According to a Pitchforkmedia reviewer, it was a brave move on Justin Vernon's side to move things so close to 1980s adult contemporary, and who are we to argue with that? 1980s artists recorded crappy music without understanding how crappy it was (and how much more crappy it would sound with each passing year); recording crappy music with such an understanding is definitely a far braver move."_
ReplyDeleteAlready praised the For Emma review for its righteous wrath, but I feel impelled to repeat myself. This rises in places to the Lester Bangs class of hatchet jobs.
Though for the record I'm slightly more favorably disposed to Justin than you are. "Woods" is a good idea well executed, and "Holocene" is a pleasant Sigur Rós rip off. Of what I've heard, though, there ends the praise.
I like this album more than the first one merely because it's less monotonous. Still couldn't manage more than one full listen to it though. I like Diego's comment about this kind of stuff being musical instagram. Dressing your crappy photos up with fancy pre-set filters doesn't make the photos any less crappy, and the same goes for music like this.
ReplyDeleteWell this is pretty fun!
ReplyDeleteI honestly laughed out loud out of sheer amazement when "Beth / Rest" came around. As far as parodies of bad 80's music Weird Al would have considered those first seconds below the belt, the fact that it's apparently being taken seriously by the indie community only makes it funnier.
This guy's first album just bored me to death and annoyed with me with it's stupid falsetto and incompetent lyrics, this one at least amused me in its sheer inadequacy.
PS.
I agree with the beginning of "Minnesota" having a nice bass drive, but only because it reminds of one of the songs (I can't remember which one now) of John Frusciante's "The Empyrean".
Oh George, you are so funny when your wrath is roused.
ReplyDelete"Beth/Rest" is seriously one of the worst songs I've ever heard in my life. Not only is terrible 80's adult-contemporary with Kenny G horns, it also adds auto-tune to the mix to just make the experience all the more gross. It'd be funny if it wasn't so depressing.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I listened on Grooveshark (I could listen to both albums, but had no patience), this patient sounds like a sort of indie Peter Gabriel spiced up with Kanye West auto-tune effects. But wait... P.G. has his song covered, and there's a collaboration with K.W.
ReplyDeleteOh boy... at least his falsetto is less grating to my ears than the cat mating of the Sigur Ros' vocalist.
So you only like how the music sounds if you can 'feel for the guy'??? Why not liking it because it's beautful sounding and emotionally resounding??
ReplyDelete