hot take vol. 1
One of these albums is not like the others
Bon Iver writes some very intimate sounding music. The first note I made to myself says “I mean, this is just perfect songwriting, right?” It achieves depth through its limited orchestration, mostly voice and guitar, and therefore has few distractions. This week I listened to these four albums in succession: For Emma, Forever Ago (2008), Bon Iver (2011), 22, A Million (2016), and i,i (2019). However, one of these albums is not like the others…
22, A Million is weak, especially next to i,i. I heard a lot of exploration into the “digital sound” possibilities, but it felt like it was relying on old analog tactics like distortion or break-up to exploit the digital realm. i,i continues in this direction and in my opinion completely knocks it out of the park. The production gets a big quality upgrade, the voice comes to the front even more (with a more natural sound), and the “digital” elements are supportive but not distracting or heavy handed.
I really love the “cabin in the north” vibe of For Emma, Forever Ago. “Creature Fear” is my highlight from that album (the bridge is so full of energy, and the vocal slide up a tritone on the lyric “wrong” is amazing). i,i is awesome too, because of all those reasons above.
Happy listening!
