I’ve always been intrigued by the concept of Justin Vernon and his musical career. I knew that Bon Iver was the product of some time spent in solitude in the woods, but I had no idea the full extent.
Justin Vernon’s band DeYarmond Edison broke up, he had gotten out of a relationship, and he had mononucleosis. Because of all of these occurrences piling on at the same time, he bolted from Raleigh, NC, and moved back to his homestate of Wisconsin. His father had a cabin in Medford, where Vernon found refuge. It was there in that cabin he pondered “Bon Iver” and what that really meant, but not without some inspiration. Because of the mono, he was entirely bedridden, spending his time watching the 90s television programme Northern Exposure. Where it all came together was during an episode of the show where the characters are emerging from their homes in Alaska to the first snowfall of winter, and they wish one another bon hiver, which is French for “good winter”. Not wanting the word “hiver” because it reminded him of “liver”, relating to his mono, he dropped the “h” and stuck with Bon Iver.
While in the cabin, Vernon didn’t have any intentions but to simply recover from the tough events. He didn’t even think about creating music. However, he had pretty simplistic recording gear with him in the cabin and was inspired. He played every instrument during recording, which shows you just the real extent of his immense talent. This is how For Emma, Forever Ago was created. It started off as a massive instrumental and while Vernon listened to it over and over, he found words to sing over to match the syllables of the melody.
"Words like 'decision' and 'intention' aren't words that float in my head because I just went", Vernon says. "I left North Carolina and went up there because I didn't know where else to go and I knew that I wanted to be alone and I knew that I wanted to be where it was cold"…"I had a very light set-up, a basic small recording set-up: a Shure SM57 and an old Silvertone guitar.. I had my brother drop off his old drums… some other small things – things I would make or find lying around."
For Emma, Forever Ago has grown to be one of my favourite albums of all time- it currently sits at number 4 on my list. Though Bon Iver is on hiatus indefinitely, I still have faith that one day I will indeed see them live.
However, to satiate my hunger for live BI, I watch live videos of Vernon performing acoustic. I found a version of “Creature Fear” that brought tears to my eyes.
The guitar playing absolutely stuns me. the gentle approach is captivating and meaningful, every strum a piece of the poetic puzzle. His voice is also way better than on the recording; I immediately got chills the second he opened his mouth. Something about when he’s not in falsetto blows me away. It’s pure and raw and absolutely flawless. Also, the transition from the high and subtle “I was loud by your lowered seminary soul” to the deep and strong “tear on, trail on” took me by surprise and is one of the greatest moments of Vernon’s career. I can’t help but have a physical response of being near tears throughout the entire course of this performance. It is absolutely gorgeous.
I love Justin Vernon and all he does; Bon Iver is, so far, the most brilliant point in his career and I’m looking forward to what the man does next.