Bon Iver's Self Titled Second Album

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Bon Iver's first album "For Emma, Forever Ago" was something really amazing, a one-man, stripped down, raw debut concept album. The story of the album is well known at this point, after a break-up with both his girlfriend and his band Justin Vernon retreated from North Carolina to a cabin in Wisconsin with no intention of writing or making any music (which in my opinion is how most great music happens). Left to himself with nothing other than a guitar, a laptop, and a DVD set of of the series Northern Exposure (which is where the band name comes from) Vernon created "For Emma, Forever Ago" by himself, playing all the instruments, mixing and editing the album, as a result it had a very cosy and personal feel. The first album's folksy feel was very reminiscent of something James Taylor or Bruce Hornsby would have done in the 70's.

The album was a surprise success, selling over 300,000 copies, earning world wide critical acclaim, TV appearances, and several features on the recent Kanye West album "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy". The question of course was would there be a sophomore slump? The Answer is No!

There are major differences, the most noticeable is in the production, right away this is a more layered album, you kind of knew it would be, which in a way that was some of appeal of For Emma. Vernon's vocals are just as strong, especially when he hits his falsetto, which is his strongest instrument. Lyrically it doesn't feel as strong as the last album, "For Emma" was personal and reflective, its not quite the same on this album, but solid none the less. Vernon added several new instruments to this new album, a bass saxophone, horns, a steel guitar to name a few, which is definitely a departure.

Most of the tracks are quality, I'm a big fan of the opener "Perth" which has a Civil War meets Heavy Metal feel, the first single "Calgary" is really good as is the song "Towers". Most of the songs hit more than they miss, the only real miss for me was the last song "Beth/Rest" which sounds like a song out of the 80s that should have stayed there.

The reason why the second album is always referred to as "The Difficult Second Album" is because no matter how good it is, it will always be measured against the First album, which in many cases is difficult, and the better the first album the harder the second one will be judged, it isn't fair, but to quote one of Bon Iver's influences "That's Just the Way It Is"