461. Bon Iver, "For Emma"

 


If you feel suicidal, please call the Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK.  Do not, under any circumstances, listen to "For Emma" by Bon Iver.

By now, you have probably heard the iconic story about how Justin Vernon broke up with his band and his girlfriend and retreated to an isolated cabin in the Wisconsin woods where he recorded the songs that would become this album.  It sounds like a keening cry of pain all the way through.  Even the vocals sound painful.  It is not a particularly pleasurable listening experience but is probably better if you have just broken up with someone and are looking sadly out a rain-streaked window.  I have not recently broken up with anyone so it did not land that hard with me.  Tbqh it starts to drag about 2/3 of the way through.  I get that it was hugely influential and yadda yadda but I had to cleanse my timeline with some garage rock after I was done just to feel alive again.

My favorite Bon Iver story is after he won Best New Artist in the 2012 Grammys, hundreds of outraged teens took to Twitter to ask just who the fuck "Bonny Bear" was.  Bonny Bear, lol.

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