Soundbites

9:51 AM

Because I know everyone enjoyed my previous post so much and can't wait to listen to For Emma, Forever Ago, I've gone ahead and dropped some of what I think are the album's greatest hits (and what I think goes, right?)



                                                                          re:stacks




                                                                         Blindsided




The Wolves (Act I and II)

For Emma, Forever Ago

9:43 AM

I want to throw it back to 2008, with Bon Iver’s debut effort For Emma, Forever Ago, an album whose mythology has become almost as famous as the album itself. This indie treasure came about when Justin Vernon contracted mono (too much kissing, Justin?) and got really, really, really sad about life and all of its hardships. So naturally, Vernon locked himself in a remote Wisconsin cabin in the dead of winter, with only his guitar, survival skills, and man angst to keep him warm at night. Vernon spent three months living off the grid, chopping firewood, hunting deer, wearing plaid shirts (the shirt thing may only be true in my head), and penning the nine songs that we hear on Emma, and does it really get more indie than that?

“Flume”

Probably one of his most popular songs from the album, Vernon gets the Emma party started with “Flume,” a track that I think encompasses everything Vernon hopes to achieve with this album. Vernon’s chilling falsetto isn’t always decipherable when it comes to lyrics, however the power in his songs comes not from what they say, but rather how they sound when they say it. In “Flume,” it’s just Vernon and his guitar, crooning over both a lost love, as well as the loss of love itself (in case you’ve already forgotten, Vernon is super, super sad about all these breakups). The song is chock full of lyrics that definitely went right over my head, with lines like, “Only love is all maroon/Gluey feathers on a flume/Sky is womb and she’s the moon.” We could go back and forth all day about what Vernon’s lyrics actually intend to say, but let’s face it, neither of us really know for sure, and wouldn’t you much rather be serenaded by that bruised and melodic voice as you listen to it in your friendly neighborhood Starbucks? Emma gets off to the right start with “Flume” and will leave listeners ready to spend the next winter in Wisconsin exile just to be able to hear more of what Vernon has to offer.

“Lump Sum”
This is one of Bon Iver’s songs that has me on the proverbial fence. “Lump Sum” follows the same formula that the rest of Iver’s songs do. Add some acoustic guitar strumming, Justin Vernon’s unnerving, yet somehow soothing at the same time voice, and some eclectic background noises that only may only exist in the Wisconsin woods and voila, you have yourself a Bon Iver song. As a longtime Bon Iver fan, I obviously have no opposition to this heuristic but “Lump Sum” doesn’t offer a special quality that is different from the other songs, which Vernon is usually able to produce every time. Once again, the lyrics are littered with metaphors that are as broad as my shoulders look in a tank top, but yet it’s still clear that the song is about someone moving on to a new stage in their life, leaving everything else they know behind them.

“Skinny Love”
“Skinny Love” is a lot like the quiet kid in the back of math class who the entire class all of a sudden discovers is a genius. The first single that was released off of Emma, “Skinny Love” became an unlikely indie/pop hit, mostly in large thanks to adolescent teenage girls locking themselves in their bedrooms and recording their own renditions of the song for all of YouTube to see, as well as countless of hopeful souls auditioning with the song on insert-talent-search-show-here. After all, British teen singer Birdy went straight to number one on the charts, thanks to her cover of this song. But the best thing about “Skinny Love” isn’t its meteoric rise to popularity, but rather the fact that it’s just an incredible fucking song. The opening verse will tear at your heartstrings, with Vernon begging for this failing relationship to “just last the year,” but the chorus will rile you up, as Vernon bellows, “And now all your love is wasted and then who the hell was I?” If that line doesn’t have you questioning every wrong move you’ve ever made in a relationship, then I’m not sure what will. The song is full of brilliant back and forth, leaving you unsure whether the message is a big, fat, F-you to a former flame or an ode to Vernon’s own self-deprecation. Of the nine songs on the album, “Skinny Love” feels like one of the most autobiographical and that, ladies and gentleman, is what makes it hit home so hard. “Skinny Love” is one of those songs with incredible staying power and one that can only get better with every listen.

“The Wolves (Act I and II)”
Kanye. Ben Howard. One Direction. Like Bon Iver, these artists all have songs with the word ‘wolves’ in the title. And it's not just the four artists I've mentioned either. If you were to search the word 'wolves' on Spotify, you would find at least 25 results of songs with the title "Wolves." The wolf, as a theme, represents a number of things, whether it be freedom or power or sexuality.  So who wore it better? Bon Iver does, with the fourth song on their debut album, “The Wolves (Act I and II). Of all the songs on Emma, I think “The Wolves (Act I and II) could very well stand alone, either as a single or part of an EP, preferably one that also includes MVPs “re:stacks” and “Blindsided.” The gentle acoustics, in combination with Vernon’s voice, are chilling in a haunting and therapeutic way, and when Vernon sings “With the wild wolves around you/In the morning I’ll call you,” you’re left almost hoping your phone rings. The rush of percussion at the end of the song resembles fireworks, as a sort of attempt at catharsis to the initial anguish of the song and the background vocals repeating, “What might have been lost,” bring that feeling of healing at the song’s conclusion. “The Wolves (Act I and II)” will knock you off of your ass and disarm you, while also helping you get back up, all at the same time. If you’re not a fan of the band, but of the genre, then this just might be the song that’ll get you hooked on Bon Iver. And if it doesn’t, well then who asked your opinion anyways?

“Blindsided”
The day Vernon’s middle school English teacher went over the use of imagery, I’m sure Vernon was there, pen in hand, paying full attention, because “Blindsided” is Bon Iver’s best use of imagery, not just on Emma, but on every other record they’ve put out. Lyrics like “I crouch like a crow/Contrasting the snow” and “I’m crippled and slow/For the agony I’d rather know” make the images Vernon conjures up tangible to us listeners. Now aren’t you picturing yourself in the Wisconsin woods, surrounded by melancholy and whatever else you need to record a successful indie album? As Vernon describes himself "biking down/down to the downtown," it's like we take the journey with him, discovering whatever it is Vernon discovers as he goes "down the shoreline." The song burns slow, clocking in at 5 minutes and 30 seconds, but it pays off in the end, with the crescendo of emotions behind the song crashing down at its conclusion. The hurt behind the song is palpable, but as it comes to an end, you're left seeing a little clearer than you did before. A lot like what we hear in “Skinny Love” and what we will come to hear in songs like “Holocene” and “Beth/Rest.” If you've made it this far into the album, you know the drill. The album is rampant with themes about healing and loneliness, but with songs like “Blindsided,” Vernon and the gang ensure that we never get bored of these cabin fever-induced soundbites.

“Creature Fear”
To me, “Creature Fear” would have perhaps fit better on the EP that followed Bon Iver’s debut album, Blood Bank. Blood Bank is Vernon’s collection of songs that should have been on Emma, but didn’t quite fit with the general vibes of the album. Not that "Creature Fear" stands out of place on Emma, but it's got a haunting element to it that is different from the other songs on the album that have the same quality. The song is reminiscent of what Iron and Wine’s Sam Beam would sound like if he were to put a little pep in his step (no offense, Sam, but you can really put a girl to sleep sometimes). “Creature Fear,” I’d hate to see you go, but I’d love to watch you leave.

“Team”
If you were to listen to Emma in chronological order, you might not even know that “Team” is its own track on the album, as it’s basically a continuation of “Creature Fear,” just with no lyrics. Personally, I’m not a fan of the under-two-minutes track that appears somewhere in the middle of the album, not really adding much to the record holistically (see “I Love Kanye” from The Life of Pablo as a reference). Maybe I'm just missing the genius of of it all, but like, is this really necessary? Was this track going to make or break the album? These are just a few of the questions that have been keeping me up at night. Granted, “Team” doesn’t hold the same air of pointlessness that West’s “I Love Kanye” does, but it’s still something the album could have done without.

“For Emma”
The somewhat title track of the album, “For Emma” is the fire you light once you’ve come in from the brutal cold. The music on this track is pretty upbeat, especially for what we usually get from Bon Iver, and especially on this particular album. Instrumentally, the band goes all out, using trumpets, saxophones, drums, electric guitars, and the whole nine yards. For a group that usually sticks to a quieter guitar sound, "For Emma" is a big jump. Lyrically, the words of the song are still rampant with sadness, with lines like, “Go find another lover/To bring a, to string along” and “With all your lies/You’re still very lovable,” but the juxtaposition between lyrics and music create something both nostalgic and hopeful. No wonder Kanye and James Blake keep coming back for more and more collaborations.

“Re: stacks”

Wow. This. Song. I could write dissertations on how good this song is, I could dedicate my life’s work to figuring out how this song is so good, I could quit school, sell all my things, and travel the world to tell everyone in the world how good this song is. The only way to review this song and to do it justice is to break it down, piece-by-piece, so here we go. I didn’t think that Vernon’s voice could send any more chills down my spine than it already has, but on “Stacks,” it’s never been gentler. Accompanied by just his trusty, acoustic guitar Vernon employs his trademark falsetto and compares his failed relationships to playing poker, delivering us lines like, “It’s hard to find it when you knew it/When your money’s gone/And you’re drunk as hell,” and “In the back with the racks and you’re unstacking your load.” Love and poker (both difficult when drunk) don’t usually go hand-in-hand, but of course Vernon makes it work, using metaphors that even Shakespeare would be proud of. Another line, “I keep throwing it down two hundred at a time,” sticks out, as the lyrics indicate it’s poker chips being thrown down, but really it’s Vernon throwing more and more of his love “down.” Vernon revisits this line when he says, “All my love was down in a frozen ground,” meaning that though the relationship is now over and his love is in a “frozen ground,” when spring comes, it will bloom again. The instrumentation of "Stacks" is interesting because on the album, it's just pure acoustic guitar, but when played live, Vernon and the gang employ both acoustic and electric guitars. And yet they achieve the same soothing and unsettling quietness that the studio version of the song offers. “Re: stacks” encompasses the whole point of For Emma, Forever Ago in a different way from the other eight songs on the album. While each song offers its own small form of catharsis, both for Vernon and the audience, “Stacks” is Vernon finally reaching the fifth stage of grief, stepping out of his self-imposed exile, and leaving all of his baggage behind in the Wisconsin wood.    

About Me [Revised]

9:33 AM


Are you tired of pretentious, indie music blogs? Don't want to hear Justin Vernon's latest acoustic croonings or The xx's half pop, half indie musical stylings? Are you unaware of who Father John Misty even is? Well, then this isn't the place for you because the only thing better than something pretentious is something that knows it's pretentious, after all.

Now that you've all established that this is the best music blog you've ever come across, you may be asking yourself who exactly I am? My name is Bisha, I'm a 20 year old student at the University of South Carolina, and I'm here to tell you all what's up in the indie world, from Cat Power to Rainbow Kitten Surprise and everyone in between. 

Indiepick's goal is to bring you all the latest and greatest sounds from the genre, both with a touch of authenticity, as well as with all the staples of the genre that you'll often find over at Pitchfork. Not saying IndiePick is better, but it's definitely better. IndiePick seeks to set trends in the indie music world so that readers can say they heard it first before all the people who "heard it first." I’ll be giving my thoughts on the old albums we all love, new albums we aren’t quite sure about yet, and whatever else I feel like giving thoughts on because I can do that. IndiePick is a place where people can discover music, celebrate music, and discuss music. Because no one should take music advice from a Top 100 chart when they can take it from me, right?

Here, I seek to support and prop up independent music in whatever way possible, whether it’s just telling the world to check out a song or giving every opinion that’s ever popped into my head about an album. So, music connoisseurs alike, I welcome you with open arms to sit down and strap in and get ready for the best reviews, the best writing, and the best damn indie picks.

Yours truly,


Bisha

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  • Once I Was An Indie Badass
    They say that breaking up is hard to do, and man were they right. After all, I’ve recently broken up with carbs for the summer and it’s be...
  • Soundbites
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  • Soundbites
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  • I Forget Where We Were
                Oh, the good ole sophomore album. For some artists, it reminds us fans why we even gave a shit about their music in the fir...
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