Blood Bank’ finds Justin Vernon returning to the recording studio, fresh from his victory lap touring the world on the back of his universally well-received debut album.
After tracks from For Emma, Forever Ago found their way onto ‘House’, and ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ among other mainstream US television shows, it is apt that Vernon’s latest EP should be named ‘Blood Bank’, and be so concerned with our biological humanity and mortality. Vernon’s is a refreshingly candid, unpretentious look at human relationships, perhaps the kind of perspective you might expect of the wood-chopping, impressively bearded American.
It’s difficult to write about Justin Vernon without mentioning his three month stay in the Wisconsin wilderness where he recorded most of his debut album, but in this case it’s justified – these tracks were written in the same creative burst. Their flavour is similar, and certainly the title track would nestle very comfortably anywhere in For Emma…
The rest of the EP however seems more like a collection of outtakes from that album, although their quality is still of an impressive standard. ‘Babys’, for instance, runs for five minutes around one, bright piano chord while Vernon chants about the ‘Carnival of Peace’ and the ‘summer coming to multiply’. It’s a bizarre image, but Vernon’s beguiling falsetto lends it a kind of optimistic substance – from his throat, the words sound impossibly heartfelt, and its easy to feel like you somehow know where he’s coming from.
We find Vernon in a quirky mood on the final track, ‘Woods’. While finding a new direction for Bon Iver’s sound was always going to be difficult, robbing Vernon’s voice of its organic, soulful quality seems a shame. The effect leads to some beautiful moments as Vernon harmonises with his band mates a cappella, and I’d be happy for Vernon to prove me wrong, but I imagine this sound will remain an enjoyable curiosity, the sort of thing that belongs on this kind of EP.
You won’t feel short-changed buying it, as the sound of Vernon’s quirkier side is refreshing, but equally don’t expect the epiphany that, for many, For Emma… represented.
In a similar way to Deerhunter’s Fluorescent Grey EP, which hinted at the stylistic shift away from Cryptograms’ psychedelic noise that they would eventually produce with their excellent Microcastle, Blood Bank hints at a number of possible directions – some more promising than others – that Vernon may be considering for the follow-up proper to For Emma, Forever Ago.
The EP is an ideas sandpit, a peek over Vernon’s shoulder. It ends too quickly to provide a full picture, but it should at least reassure any doubters that Justin Vernon, whether in his Bon Iver guise or not, will again be a talent to watch in the coming year.
Four Stars
