Considering he made what I considered the best album of 2008 (For Emma, Forever Ago) and probably the most memorable performance of the year (at, of course, Primavera) it's surprising that I haven't listened to more than a few minutes of Bon Iver/Justin Vernon in 2009. He had managed to produce an album so idiosyncratic and emblematic of a particular time that it was difficult imagining anything as memorable again. The Blood Bank EP that came out at the beginning of the year seemed to go into one ear and out the other. But Vernon is back.
This collaboration with the post-rock group Collections of Colonies of Bees seems the perfect way for Vernon to make use of that instantly recognizable falsetto without it becoming tiresome and 'old hat'. It's used to maximum effect as an accompaniment to the guitar drones and soundscapes and amazingly, just as Vernon's debut will forever conjure images of wintery, wooded landscapes the promo photo above sums up very well the sense of 'warm autumnal sunsets spent with your mates' that this music creates.
Volcano Choir release Unmap on Jagjaguwar soon(ish - depending where you are)
Volcano Choir - Sleepymouth
Volcano Choir - Island, IS
Volcano Choir - Husks & Shells
(And just in case you forgot how good this was)
Bon Iver - The Wolves (Act 1 & 2)
Volcano Choir - Island, IS
Volcano Choir - Husks & Shells
(And just in case you forgot how good this was)
Bon Iver - The Wolves (Act 1 & 2)
Volcano Choir - Unmap -
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