Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
So this album is not necessarily a ‘lost klassic’ so to speak but it has most definitely lived in the shadow of its lead single, ‘Skinny Love’, since its birth. What is utterly stagerring about his fact however is that, in this writers personal opinion, ‘Skinny Love’ is not even the best song on here.
'For Emma…' is in fact rich with lush, beautiful, perfectly crafted acoustic balladry and song craftsmanship emblazened with stunning and intriguing production. The stunning epic 'The Wolves…' in both its parts is evidence of all of this in one song and demonstrates not only beauty in song writing and style but also demonstrates spectacularly the amazing effects production can have on music. In this case the production transforms this beautiful pop song into a very interesting song where the listener is guaranteed to discover something new every time they listen to it; it is this kind of production that makes albums last as long term classics which is why I am more than willing to stick my neck out as a music critic and say that this album will be one that people will award classic status to in years to come. It will be one for the time capsules; an album that excites future ears as they are told 'look! listen what was happening in the noughties and beyond, the great folk revival!'.
As we are led seemlessly from ‘Flume’ to ‘Re: Stacks’ what we realise is that this astonishing, groundbreaking album is a perfect showcase of the modern influences of the ‘nu-folk’ genre and what is even more evident is that Bon Iver is the godfather of this genre. A huge influencer who will never cease influencing. But, despite all this what is at the heart of a truly great album is the songwriting. And we cannot fault Bon Iver here. He is a master of his craft and writes beautiful folk pop songs that will, because of his amazing ability in song craft, will excite, influence and be enjoyed by many ears both present and future. To put it simply, a beautiful, enduring album and a well deserved ‘lost klassic’.
