Bon Iver - For Emma... & Blood Bank

The fact that Bon Iver can be as successful as he's been with his delicate debut makes me feel warmer than the songs. Becasue the songs make me feel cold. Not a teeth-chattering, finger-numbing cold, but more the type of blue-gray early morning cold that you can smell.
'Flume' opens For Emma, Forever Ago..., and opens the window to let in that cold. At first it's a bit uncomfortable, then mildly refreshing and motivating as the floating vocal layers fade into 'Lump Sum.' By the time that 'Skinny Love' and 'The Wolves' come around, you're into it, muscles warmed up and there's a distinct scent of nostaligia in the air.
Maybe it's that same feeling that makes this album feel distinctly American. Justin Vernon, singer and songwriter, puts a spirit of true naturalism into the work, the sort of naturalism that this country used to exemplify before we pumped the air full of so much shit. I imagine Vernon sitting in the secluded Wisconsin cabin where he birthed these songs using the environment as a protective womb against all of that. As a result, the songs gain their crystalline glory. Listening to them carefully is to cradle them with tenderness.
Vernon's falsetto vocals are impressionistic and often eclipsed by the interesting insturmentations that undulate through the songs. The persistent strum of rhythm guitar is responsible for keeping most of the songs in line. Languid horn flares and rattling percussion seem antithetical to the overall gentlesness of the record, but in context mesh flawlessly.
That this album generated so much interest and worked its way into so many heads, hearts, and best of lists is little short of inspiring. The follow up EP, Blood Bank, caps the album nicely. While For Emma's closer, 'Re:Stacks' is a pleasant enough song, the fourth and final track on Blood Bank, 'The Woods,' is Bon Iver's most amibitous and impressive track on either disc. The layered, echoing vocals are cacophonous but again, completely unassuming. It's the best 'dark room with headphones' track that I've experienced in quite a while. For the song's duration we are eveloped in that protective womb as well. And while Bon Iver's music never denys all that shit pressing against the outside walls, that fragile, fresh coolness that it continuously exudes, allows you to bend like a reed in wind against its pressure. It's beauty isn't distracting, and although it's a delicate record it's focused and bold.