Artist: Bon Iver
Album: 22, A Million (2016)
It's been about a year now since we as Sad Moth were originally going to publish our Bon Iver 22, A Million reviews. His latest record, released after about a half decade album drought, polarized many a fan but didn't stop the thing for garnering rave reviews, as most Justin Vernon projects seem to do. I seem to be having a difficult time trying to discern what side of the fence I'm on, with not only this album but Bon Iver as a whole.
I'm not really game to understand the worship or the obsession people seem to have with deriving meaning and false substance from Vernon's more purposely oblique lyrics. In a way his audience reminds me of Bob Dylan's early audience in the way they fawn and agonize over placing meaning behind his every word, yet at the same time may not be completely comfortable with change. Another similarity, though I'm not quire sure the comparison completely fits here -- in recent years his own work seems to be overshadowed by his legend.
To be fair, it's a fairly compelling legend if you can call it that. The down on his luck musician with his career and personal life crumbling around him, retreating to his parents' cabin in northern Wisconsin and crafting one of the most potent and emotionally compelling folk breakup records of the new millennium. More surprising sill that the album and lead single "Skinny Love" became a surprise hit. Things stared moving fast and before you know it, Kanye West is not only reworking his songs on his record ("Lost in the World" on MBDTW derives from Vernon's own "Woods" vocal melody) but called him "his favorite living artist". A year later his sophomore album, the self titled baroque folk attempt Bon Iver, wins best alternative music album at the Grammys. Vernon had officially hit it big. The albums topped the rock, alternative, and independent charts, peaking at number two on the Billboard 200.
Little wonder Vernon needed another break. Heck, after his last retreat he delivered his breakthrough (and best) album. While the tales of how that album came to be and exactly how isolated he really was are overblown, it's hard to to deny the stoic appeal of For Emma Forever Ago. While I wouldn't go so far as to call his voice "angelic", as some would put it, it does have a beautiful and almost pained quality to it. On this album in particular I love the contrast with some of his rawer lower register singing, which was something I missed a bit on his 2011 follow up. Not only does Vernon write and sing these tunes, he also produces all his records himself. Personally I find this very admirable though admittedly it may have worked better when there was less to produce. Vernon's first record was a relatively sparse affair, mostly guitar and vocals with a touch of horns, some drum and bass, and possibly a few electronics. It was with producing his last record that some cracks began to show. It seemed as though Bon Iver wanted the best of both worlds, the isolation and intimacy provided from the more lo-fi sounds as well as the grandness and musical depth of baroque composition. In practice I think the wealth of new instrumentation combined with the muddy meandering mixes ends up drowning a lot of these songs.
I'm not really game to understand the worship or the obsession people seem to have with deriving meaning and false substance from Vernon's more purposely oblique lyrics. In a way his audience reminds me of Bob Dylan's early audience in the way they fawn and agonize over placing meaning behind his every word, yet at the same time may not be completely comfortable with change. Another similarity, though I'm not quire sure the comparison completely fits here -- in recent years his own work seems to be overshadowed by his legend.
To be fair, it's a fairly compelling legend if you can call it that. The down on his luck musician with his career and personal life crumbling around him, retreating to his parents' cabin in northern Wisconsin and crafting one of the most potent and emotionally compelling folk breakup records of the new millennium. More surprising sill that the album and lead single "Skinny Love" became a surprise hit. Things stared moving fast and before you know it, Kanye West is not only reworking his songs on his record ("Lost in the World" on MBDTW derives from Vernon's own "Woods" vocal melody) but called him "his favorite living artist". A year later his sophomore album, the self titled baroque folk attempt Bon Iver, wins best alternative music album at the Grammys. Vernon had officially hit it big. The albums topped the rock, alternative, and independent charts, peaking at number two on the Billboard 200.
Little wonder Vernon needed another break. Heck, after his last retreat he delivered his breakthrough (and best) album. While the tales of how that album came to be and exactly how isolated he really was are overblown, it's hard to to deny the stoic appeal of For Emma Forever Ago. While I wouldn't go so far as to call his voice "angelic", as some would put it, it does have a beautiful and almost pained quality to it. On this album in particular I love the contrast with some of his rawer lower register singing, which was something I missed a bit on his 2011 follow up. Not only does Vernon write and sing these tunes, he also produces all his records himself. Personally I find this very admirable though admittedly it may have worked better when there was less to produce. Vernon's first record was a relatively sparse affair, mostly guitar and vocals with a touch of horns, some drum and bass, and possibly a few electronics. It was with producing his last record that some cracks began to show. It seemed as though Bon Iver wanted the best of both worlds, the isolation and intimacy provided from the more lo-fi sounds as well as the grandness and musical depth of baroque composition. In practice I think the wealth of new instrumentation combined with the muddy meandering mixes ends up drowning a lot of these songs.
But that was then and this is now (or rather was not a year ago), and with this new record comes a change in both style and instrumentation. Fans who expected Vernon to try and refine his unique-ish brand of baroque folk may be sorely disappointed to find on his newest record he's selling his guitar and buying turntables (or a sampler more accurately). Yes, this record is of the "folktronica" variety. Silly genre names aside, it really just gives Vernon and company an excuse to explore the way they go about composing songs. Guitar was not used to compose the majority of songs on this record, though it is still featured here. Many were written and built off of Vernon's exploration of sample based composition. And I have to admit, it provides yet another compelling narrative. A disheartened folk singer rediscovering his love of songwriting through a new lens does sound like it would make for an interesting listen. The record begins promisingly enough, the opener “22 (OVER S∞∞N)” is a stunner. I love the droning samples and loops vernon uses to build the song and the saxophones on this track (as with most of the tracks here) sound lovely. They sound more at home here then some of his more 80’s soft rock inspired tracks on the tail end of his last album and provide a perfect mood for the track. Pitch shifted vocals are another of this albums mainstays and though they’re hit or miss in terms of execution across the record they definitely hit the right notes here. Everything builds very organically and creates a inciting feel. Still I wished it finished stronger rather than just petering out after two and a half minutes. As an opener it works well in establishing the change of sound but there's not as much here as I would have liked.
Honestly it doesn't all get better from here though. Quality-wise the album varies wildly for at least the next four songs. "10 d E A T h b R E a s T ⚄ ⚄” comes next and really just obliterates the albums flow. Yeah I understand that that seems to be the point, while the second half settles into almost a groove of sorts the first half is all about abrupt shifts both sonically and quality wise. Conceptually the song is Vernon’s attempt at writing something, in his own words, “aggressive sounding”. Again on paper this sounds like a novel idea, exciting even! Unfortunately while he finds more abrasive sounds, i.e. the pounding distorted drums and generally lo-fi atheistic, they tend to irritate more than intrigue and seem more than a little cosmetic. In all his efforts to make a more aggressive sounding backdrop the boys forgot to write an aggressive song. The track "715 - CR∑∑KS” feels like an interlude though why we need one in the third track of this relatively short (only 35 minutes) album is beyond me. Especially since the initial vocal melody has already been featured in a song Vernon worked on with James Blake five years earlier, “Fall Creek Boys Choir”. It's Vernon’s undeniably passionate vocals that end up elevating the track to something a bit more soulful. This also marks the first appearance of a Messina, an instrument Justin and studio engineer Chris Messina created for the project. In this instance it simply creates the vocal harmony you hear automatically and the effect works well enough, though I’m far more impressed with the sounds it creates on “____45_____”. Certainly an instrumental highlight on the album, the harmonizing of the horns sounds stunning and organic, and what sounds like banjo on the back end of the song is also a lovely touch.
Honestly it doesn't all get better from here though. Quality-wise the album varies wildly for at least the next four songs. "10 d E A T h b R E a s T ⚄ ⚄” comes next and really just obliterates the albums flow. Yeah I understand that that seems to be the point, while the second half settles into almost a groove of sorts the first half is all about abrupt shifts both sonically and quality wise. Conceptually the song is Vernon’s attempt at writing something, in his own words, “aggressive sounding”. Again on paper this sounds like a novel idea, exciting even! Unfortunately while he finds more abrasive sounds, i.e. the pounding distorted drums and generally lo-fi atheistic, they tend to irritate more than intrigue and seem more than a little cosmetic. In all his efforts to make a more aggressive sounding backdrop the boys forgot to write an aggressive song. The track "715 - CR∑∑KS” feels like an interlude though why we need one in the third track of this relatively short (only 35 minutes) album is beyond me. Especially since the initial vocal melody has already been featured in a song Vernon worked on with James Blake five years earlier, “Fall Creek Boys Choir”. It's Vernon’s undeniably passionate vocals that end up elevating the track to something a bit more soulful. This also marks the first appearance of a Messina, an instrument Justin and studio engineer Chris Messina created for the project. In this instance it simply creates the vocal harmony you hear automatically and the effect works well enough, though I’m far more impressed with the sounds it creates on “____45_____”. Certainly an instrumental highlight on the album, the harmonizing of the horns sounds stunning and organic, and what sounds like banjo on the back end of the song is also a lovely touch.
If only that were the case of every instrumental here, unfortunately the same production shortcomings that irritated on Bon Iver’s last project rear their ugly head on this album as well. Take “33 GOD” for instance; sonically it starts fine enough, the nice bright piano lead that starts off the track makes for another lovely opening. As the track goes on though, Vernon starts to work in his typical style slowly adding and layering additional instrumentation throughout the track. Only here rather than traditional instruments, he layers strands of his pitch shifted vocals and flickering, jolting samples. It’s the way in witch he choses to layer them in the mix thats so frustrating, everything bleeds together in a less than appealing way so that when the chorus arrives it dulls any impact the song may have otherwise built up. This problem is not exclusive to “33 GOD” either as it effect nearly every song here. There’s an alright tune somewhere in there but that doesn't save it from some of Vernon’s occasionally groan-inducing “poetry”. If you are already invested in Justin Vernon as some kind of creative genius I’m sure you’ll eat up this stuff but overall a lot of his lyrics are kind of hit or miss. These songs do seem deeply personal but I'm not quite sure Vernon contextualizes them enough to lend some of his more esoteric lyrics any real meaning. He’s “created” a handful of words on this album, and I love the effort, I really do, but these just aren’t words, (Fuckfied, Astuary, Rememorize, Paramind, etc.) they’re feelings that only Justin Vernon has. Like I said if you're invested that's fine, there's plenty to dig into here if you're nuts about “decoding” this shit plus you’ll probably love looking for all the number easter eggs hidden in the track list. As for me I don’t see how any of that adds any real depth to the album.
There is somewhat of an overarching theme here believe it or not. After a retreat from the post Grammys spotlight and a botched journey of self discovery (as Vernon puts it “Don’t go to the Greek islands off-season”) 22 A Million deals with Vernon’s simultaneous crises of faith and self. Of course, ever the artist, he delivers these ideas very cryptically and its ends up being his vocal talents more than anything that sell it for me. Vernon may not be perfect but if he has a real gift for anything it’s emoting these songs with a real sense of loss, be that in a relationship or a loss of faith. And occasionally some of those nonsense words are delivered with such conviction even i have a hard time getting mad at them. Like on the closer here "00000 Million”, a moving piano ballad where he combines some of his lyrical creations with some more actually obscure terms (I had to look up “ponens”, though its still a little out of context being latin and all). Vernon almost delivers this song like a hymn and the sample mid chorus is phenomenal. "29 #Strafford APTS” is another stunner. Easily the most guitar lead song on the album, this song relies less on the slow instrumental build of other tracks here and stands up more from a songwriting perspective. You can almost feel the place in time Vernon relays here but not completely, its faded and distant. The pitch shifting here works great as it wobbles in and out of their natural tone. Vernon is vocally accompanied here by his drummer Sean Carey and they work well together. The melody is great, the instrumental swells are tasteful, I love the piano and the saxophones on the bridge sound fantastic. Its just a gorgeous track and apart from “00000 Million” they only track here I’ve continually revisited this past year.
While the first half of the record goes by relatively quick, only “33 GOD and "29 #Strafford APTS” push past the 3 minute mark, its with "666 ʇ” and on that the record fill itself out a little more. "666 ʇ” through “____45_____” form a kind of suite or at least segue into each other more gracefully than the abrupt cuts in the first half. The former is fine though I'm not sure I care much for overly dramatic drums or the irritating chipmunk “bit by bit”. Great bass part though, and I do enjoy the plinky electronic beat and warm guitar tone. Its one of the more overtly religious tracks here lyrics wise as well:
“Still standing in the need of prayer
No, I don't know the path
Or what kind of pith I've amassed”
Mixing problems aside its a fine song if not extremely memorable. "21 M◊◊N WATER” may be the most “experimental” thing here but its relatively tame. Bon Iver essentially cooked up one big ethereal soup and tossed in a bunch of sax stabs and manipulations. The sounds here are pretty hit or miss, though it does end on a high note with Micheal Lewis’s blazing saxophone gliding into the next track. “8 (circle)” presents us with the rare and very soulful non falsetto vocal melody from Vernon, and as a fan of his lower register singing I’m glad to hear it. The understated horns and stings are tasteful and they build very nicely as well. Even though it is one of the finer songs worked in here it does feel like it would have benefited from a stronger ending than just a vocal breakdown.
Overall, All and All, In conclusion the new(ish) Bon Iver is pretty good but not that good so don’t get too full of yourself Vernon, and if you show your balding hooked nosed ass in our festival again your life will be "22 (OVER S∞∞N)”.
6.9/10
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