Music :: Feature 09 Dec 2008
Ally Brown: Music doesn’t exist in isolation from real human life. You might be able to separate the art from the artist to enjoy music made by bad people, but a musician’s background or personality is always capable of influencing a listener’s t...
Music :: Live Review 19 Sep 2008
Ally Brown: If the wild acclamation of For Emma, Forever Ago has left you a little nonplussed, an explanation for the high praise perhaps lies in Bon Iver's live performances. Put simply, while the album is sweet - but to these ears slightly over-rated - it truly ...
Records :: Single Review 16 Sep 2008
Jorge Marticorena: Nearly everything about the song For Emma exhibits some degree of plurality: Justin Vernon’s choir of falsettos, multiple guitar overlays, the lyrical dialogue between two lovers separating, and a bountiful horn section. Yet, somehow, the track s...
Music :: Feature 04 Sep 2008
Paul Neeson: Taking an opportunity to wax lyrical with Justin Vernon amidst a sound check in Glasgow, the romantic in me is keen to confirm, if nothing else, that the creation of his startling debut For Emma, Forever Ago was every bit the exorcism that the tales s...
Music :: Review :: Live Review 17 May 2008
Paul Neeson: That Justin Vernon of Bon Iver [****] proves to be completely at ease in front of tonight’s packed-to-capacity ABC, dispelling some of the folklore which one assumes must have drawn so many here to see him. Instead of the closeted, hibernating in...
Records :: Album Review 22 Apr 2008
Paul Neeson: Driven into the wildness by disillusionment and a little heartbreak, Justin Vernon holed himself up in an old log cabin, spending his days stocking the wood-burning stove and hunting for food to fuel him against the bleak Wisconsin winter which was set...