And Pluck Your Strings

‘For Emma’ was so 2008. Welcome to the newer, meaner, denser Bon Iver. A year ago it seemed alien to imagine a Bon Iver song that required more than a couple of instruments, but in reality this new, more complex sound is a direction that Justin Vernon has been hinting at in his live shows for the better part of three years. The fact that he never tried to transcribe the sparseness and desolation of ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’ into a live show, but instead insisted on using a full band and plenty of instrumentation, was perhaps an indicator that he thought the album was impossible to recreate. And the fact that he hasn’t tried to recreate ‘For Emma’ in Bon Iver’s latest self-titled album turns out to be nothing short of a stroke of genius.