Sasha Frere-Jones on Bon Iver

Jan 05 2009, Posted by Andrew Hibbard in Music, Playground, 1 Comments

UPDATE: The article also had a link to a video of Frere-Jones interviewing Vernon which you can see here. 

New Yorker music critic Sasha Frere-Jones takes on one of the biggest indie sensations of 2008 and one of recess’ favorite artists, Bon Iver. It drips of that typical Frere-Jones prose and is just great. 

Sometimes I am surprised by the fragmentary lyrics on “For Emma”; more often, I am moved by the beauty of Vernon’s massed voice, and held in place by the force of each careful, dogged song. You don’t need to know about breakups or solitary stretches in the woods to feel a line dragging these songs forward. As pretty as Vernon’s musical tendencies may be, the line pulling “For Emma” along is not light and could not have been easily found.

Note the reference to Raleigh-based Bowerbirds’ Mark Paulson on the second page. For the full story, click here.

Also, Bon Iver’s new EP, Blood Bank, comes out Jan. 21 on Jagjaguwar. Check back to this blog in the coming days for a review of that EP.