Genre Analysis 2: For Emma, Forever Ago

     For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver is an album that truly stands alone, a collection of the sonically serene and whispering, haunting tunes that echo an indie folk genre. With the guitar and singing pattern of Elliott Smith, and unusual, synthetic sounds that give his music the mysterious vibe of bands like Vancouver Sleep Clinic and Lord Huron, Bon Iver’s album comes across as an introspective conglomeration of sound. For Emma, Forever Ago touches on heartbreak and desolation, and becomes an interesting depiction of divine, transcendent noise painted on a folksy, raw musical background. Justin Vernon, creator and performer of the Bon Iver project, is a troubled-looking, rustic guy with sensitivity so deep and penetrating that his songs can only touch you in the most emotional of ways. His style of music, while deeply folk, has indie touches and flourishes that set him apart from the pack.

            
     If Bon Iver has any king of a tone, it exists simply as winter. Something about the brisk, crisp guitar strumming and soft, high-pitched, humming vocals give way to images of falling snow and blustery skies. Vernon takes folk music and gives it a seasonal spin, pulling listeners into the universe of Bon Iver- melancholy and bleak, but somehow not totally unpleasant. In fact, many of the songs on For Emma, Forever Ago sound like something you would do yoga or meditate to, or they just make you want to lay outside on frozen ground, staring at a grey blanket of clouds, contemplating anything and everything. These songs reach a deeper consciousness, and it’s intriguing how well Justin Vernon accomplishes this by taking folk to a new level. He separates himself simply by giving his music an echo-y, tranquil twist through variation in vocal and instrumental style. The basic acoustic guitar gives the music a stripped down, bare atmosphere, while added dream-like noise effects enhance the indie ambiance and give his songs that extra Bon Iver nudge.

            
     Vernon is very fond of singing in falsetto, a technique that could easily be overused or worn out- and yet it never gets old on For Emma, Forever Ago, or on any of Bon Iver’s album for that matter. He also loves to harmonize, and this grants many of Vernon’s songs an almost spiritual aura, with multiple voices singing at once in an almost ghostly fashion. It resembles the drama of the legendary band Queen, not just in the harmonies, but also in the escalation of sound and in the emphasis on how sound works together. While Bon Iver may not have quite the volume of Queen, the quiet energy of the band, and specifically this album, is unique and matches Queen’s style of creating epic sonic constructions.

            
     Also very noteworthy is the almost random musical pattern of the individual songs on For Emma, Forever Ago. Some songs stay constant, mellow and relaxed, while others start softly and suddenly burst into the chorus and build. Still others alternate between soft lulls and louder ruptures, although loud may not be the correct term for Bon Iver’s peppered surges in indie folk energy. Intense, arresting, or consuming may be better adjectives to describe this overwhelming influence Bon Iver’s sound can have on listeners. Vernon’s engaging, gripping emotion is part of what completes Bon Iver’s ascension from a purely folk artist to an elusively indie mash-up of folk and dreamy yet provocative acoustics.

            
     To identify individual songs, “Flume” and the more popular and well known “Skinny Love” are pieces from For Emma, Forever Ago that both have a more wistful, painfully heartbroken sound. The acoustic guitar is somehow orchestrated to sound gentle and yet it also aches, like a throbbing injury or pounding headache that wont let up.  Perhaps the consistent guitar strumming combined with a slightly faster pace is what makes these songs resonate more with pounding, underlying anguish. Whatever the reason, this success in writing and performing folk songs that are distinctly different from one another in something that can be as subtle as tone shows the mastery of Bon Iver in the indie folk genre. “Flume” and “Skinny Love” communicate the passionate heartbreak Vernon faced in the ending of a relationship, and they speak most directly to this romantic crisis out of any of the songs present on For Emma, Forever Ago. Somehow, Justin Vernon creates this type of direction in his songs that becomes obvious when heard but is difficult to pinpoint or specifically define.

           
     Other songs off of this Bon Iver album like “Blindsided” and “Re: Stacks” carry a more blanketed yet almost peaceful gloom, and have a profoundness to them that inspires quiet reflection and simply sounds like existence. “Blindsided” is more resigned and almost carefree in its acquiescence, and the slightly faster pace and haphazard sounds in the background that sound like adjusting instruments encourage this careless attitude. The humming vocals also incite a curiously easygoing feeling, despite the obvious pain motivating this song, and this reinforces the emergent theme of acceptance. 

With “Re: Stacks”, Vernon is more glum and the song is a soft, continuous melody that sounds like Vernon basking purely in his sadness. It’s a song that fits the soundtrack of a gloomy scene in a movie, a song that is thoughtful and pensive of its own misery. The guitar is constant and slower, and Justin Vernon lowers his singing pitch in a way that helps to emphasize that feeling of being “down” that surrounds and identifies this song.

     Vernon uses instruments and musical style on For Emma, Forever Ago to alter the indie folk genre, and these modifications reveal Vernon’s unique style within his generic niche. This talent for manipulating genre is something that he certainly possesses, and it makes a clear statement about the originality and individuality of For Emma, Forever Ago. Without abandoning his folk origins and completely succumbing to the intricacies of new-wave indie, Vernon builds and nourishes an album that ranges from one end of a generic spectrum to the end of another, making For Emma, Forever Ago an engaging album choice.