For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver

For Emma is an album full of sadness, disappointment, and quiet reflection. It was written and recorded while Justin Vernon was on retreat in the wintry forests of Wisconsin just after his girlfriend of six years broke up with him, his band was put on hiatus, and he contracted mono. The album speaks primarily in poorly recorded acoustic guitar and grainy falsetto vocals, although a few other musicians join Vernon on a couple tracks. Still, the feeling of being right next to the Vernon playing remains. Even though the vocals are layered, sometimes with Vernon singing with himself in harmony three or four times, you feel as though it's just one person, sitting in your living room and pouring out his heart for you to hear.

But it's clear that Justin Vernon never intended this album to be released. Many mistakes permeate the album, and it feels sloppy in it's recording. The beat skips along, sometimes with one element of the music falling behind slightly. Yet this only adds to the feeling of intimacy, and in combination with the timbre of the sounds, produces a beauty that's never found in more polished recordings.

The timbre of the guitar throughout the album feels very clumped together with the low end slightly distorting and the high end barely registering. In fact, the guitar sounds less like a guitar, and more like a standup bass with six strings. The vocals rarely dip out of their characteristic reverb laden, multi-layered whine. Some form of percussion is usually heard on the tracks, though not a drumset or any kind of orchestral instrument. Often times it's just Vernon tapping on his guitar or hitting wooden objects with drumsticks. There is a bass drum thumping away on most of the tracks, although it isn't mixed very loudly.

It's difficult to pick any individual song out as a representative of the album, because the songs aren't linked together by a particular motif or the feel of their meter. . Vernon does a remarkable job of making each song sound different through his use of form and song structure. The songs are instead tied together by the general timbre of the instruments, and the feeling of deep sadness and loss.

The album goes through Vernon's stages of cleansing and acceptance, starting with him being dumped out into the world to live by himself, and his feelings of abandonment(Flume, Lump Sum). He transitions into anger and accusations(Skinny Love), into working through his feelings(The Wolves, Blindsided), recounting and vindication of the beginning of his relationships(Creature Fear), and finally into acceptance(For Emma, Re-Stacks); that it was awful and hard and undeserved. But it was worth it. He still loves all that he did and all that happened to him. He still loves those who destroyed his life; it never left him.

“This is not the sound of a new man or crispy realization
It's the sound of the unlocking and the lift away
Your love will be safe with me”