Given that Bon Iver have been laying low for a little too long now, their latest offering comes as a welcome if not anticipated surprise. A 15 second snippet of ‘Calgary’ – the new track available for free download – leaked online a few months ago and generated more hype than all the Harry Potter movies put together. Sadly though, those few moments of warm synth and creeping vocals are more effective than the full length song. I’m not sure whether my two year long obsession with For Emma For Ever Ago has rendered me incapable of appreciating anything different from Bon, but there is a sense that they’re deviating away from their idiosyncratic sound and quite explicitly dipping a toe or three into the mainstream pool.
Although being a hater is so cliche, and hating mainstream is even more cliche, to me Bon Iver belong in the acoustic and heart wrenching sections of our stores, and seeing them lean towards a generic sound is disappointing to say the least. Although this track is as ethereal as anything For Emma had to offer it fails to get those hairs on the back of your neck standing up, causing a bit of casual head swaying instead. Following the seemingly inescapable trend of synthesisers and warbling electro sounds, Justin Vernon has buoyed up his up his distinctive vocals with some subtle Kanyeish auto-tune which thank God sounds nothing like Weezy on 808 & Heartbreak but does detract somewhat from the credibility of the song. Maybe that collaboration with Mr West was not such a good idea after all.
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Bon Iver’s straying away from the untrodden track into a more common realm, perhaps because of its ‘easy listening’ quality leaves you hungry for more. Lucky for us though, the self-titled second album drops on June 20th and is available to pre-order on iTunes now. As there is no risk of the record company running out of albums to sell, I don’t really get the concept of pre-ordering but if you’re eager to be the coolest kid on the block, you better get on it. This release also welcomes the arrival of their UK tour where they’ll play London’s Hammersmith Apollo on October 24th and you know I’ve got my ticket. Let’s just hope that the sheer brilliance of For Emma, Forever Ago seeps into Bon Iver even if it is heavily diluted.
In anticipation of the full 11-track album, I leave you with songs that will either remind you of Bon Iver in the good old days, or give you a snippet of what his underrated collaborations have to offer – there are a few random gems in there too. Enjoy.
