Bon Iver's "For Emma, Forever Ago"

Sam Charles
Reviewing the Arts
“For Emma, Forever Ago” by Bon Iver

The first studio album by the indie-folk outfit Bon Iver, “For Emma, Forever Ago,” was released in the summer of 2007. It is the very definition of a bare-bones record. With half of the songs only featuring Justin Vernon’s voice and an acoustic guitar, Bon Iver proves, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that great music still can be played that doesn’t rely on loops, fills, and copious amounts of autotune.
Justin Vernon is the creative force of the group, having written all of the lyrics and musical arrangements on the album while, as he called it, “hibernating” in a remote cabin in Northwestern Wisconsin during the winter of 2006. According to the band, all of Vernon’s personal trouble, heartache, longing, loss and guilt that had been stockpiled over the course of the previous six years, and was purged into the form of song. Vernon’s songwriting style isn’t particularly complicated, but the powerful messages that he conveys are what make his songs so profound. On the third track, “Skinny Love,” Vernon writes, “In the morning I’ll be with you, but it will be a different ‘kind,’ I’ll be holding all the tickets, and you’ll be owning all the fines.”
“For Emma, Forever Ago” sounds like it was recorded in someone’s living room with only one or two microphones, which makes sense because that’s actually how it was recorded. The stripped down recording style helps the listener feel more connected. These are songs that you could easily imagine a friend playing outside next to a campfire in the middle of summer.
Vernon and his small supporting cast of musicians aren’t virtuosos by any stretch of the imagination. But they know their limitations and don’t try to over-play their instruments. Every song is played with simple chords that any student of guitar learns within two weeks of picking up the instrument. They don’t play to impress the audience, they play to relate with them, and it works.
The beautiful vocal harmonies created by Vernon and his band help carry the songs when the musical accompaniment needs a little help. The singers have the range of Thom Yorke, but they sing the same way they play their instruments. They don’t sing to impress, but to get closer to the listener.
This is truly an indie everyman record in both the sense that someone could learn to play it in about an hour, but also that it’s very relatable. All the emotions conveyed by Vernon and his bandmates are ones that everyone has felt at one time or another.
With all these elements coming together on one album, it’s hard not to be taken by “For Emma, Forever Ago.”