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- Dec 31, 2007
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Nah Wembley Arena.
Saw them last night, quality. His voice is so good.Just got some tickets for a show in November. Nice.
My favourite moment on the whole albumThat purposeful audio glitch mixed with the "You've buried all your alimony butterflies" line on 29 Strafford Apts
Whole album gets better with every listen.
I think it says a lot about the new direction he's taken that the tracks people mention as the best could have realistically been on 'Bon Iver' as well.I'll need more listens but so far I'm disappointed by this. Perhaps it's unrealistic to expect them to hit the same heights as the last album did, but I feel the step down is a bit too steep and sometimes a result of Vernon just feeling the need to make a splash. There's still some wonderful moments and songs which is only to be expected given how talented Vernon is. 666 in particular is a terrific song, as well as others such as Strafford APS (?) and 8 being highlights. But as a whole, there's just so much focus on being gimmicky and different for the sake of it, that I think it messes the the actual quality of the songwriting and compositions big time. Vernon said he tried to fit in words that suited the tune and went from there so maybe that's a clear shift in focus which doesn't resonate well with me.
All in all, compared to the mastery of the previous album, this one as of now, seems like a real step down. I'll still listen to it plenty of course because it is a good album.
Absolutely.I think it says a lot about the new direction he's taken that the tracks people mention as the best could have realistically been on 'Bon Iver' as well.
There's no accounting for taste, but I couldn't disagree with you more. I can understand liking Bon Iver, Bon Iver better (it's a better fit for my taste as well), but labelling this as a qualitatively worse album? I don't see it. One of the the albums of the year for me, no doubt.I'll need more listens but so far I'm disappointed by this. Perhaps it's unrealistic to expect them to hit the same heights as the last album did, but I feel the step down is a bit too steep and sometimes a result of Vernon just feeling the need to make a splash. There's still some wonderful moments and songs which is only to be expected given how talented Vernon is. 666 in particular is a terrific song, as well as others such as Strafford APS (?) and 8 being highlights. But as a whole, there's just so much focus on being gimmicky and different for the sake of it, that I think it messes the the actual quality of the songwriting and compositions big time. Vernon said he tried to fit in words that suited the tune and went from there so maybe that's a clear shift in focus which doesn't resonate well with me.
All in all, compared to the mastery of the previous album, this one as of now, seems like a real step down. I'll still listen to it plenty of course because it is a good album.
I don't mind a change in direction. But I do see (or hear) a clear and visible drop in quality. While the previous album was absolutely loaded with brillaint songs, I find the same much more scarce here. I mean songs like over soon, god, death breast (??) are nowhere near Holocene, Perth etc. IMO. Plus, I often find the focus on gimmicks rather than quality.There's no accounting for taste, but I couldn't disagree with you more. I can understand liking Bon Iver, Bon Iver better (it's a better fit for my taste as well), but labelling this as a qualitatively worse album? I don't see it. One of the the albums of the year for me, no doubt.
I'm also very fond of artists who are clearly trying to evolve as musicians, and aren't interested in making the same record over and over. It's pretty easy to connect the dots of Justin Vernon / Bon Iver's artistic progression through the long plays and the EP, as well as his various cameos in other projects.
The once I actually like the most from the album currently are 'Deathbreast', 'God' and '666'.I don't mind a change in direction. But I do see (or hear) a clear and visible drop in quality. While the previous album was absolutely loaded with brillaint songs, I find the same much more scarce here. I mean songs like over soon, god, death breast (??) are nowhere near Holocene, Perth etc. IMO. Plus, I often find the focus on gimmicks rather than quality.
It's still a really good album of course. Bon Iver is a brilliant songwriter after all, and I'll listen to this a lot I'm sure. Its just not a top album for me.
I feel I have to clarify on this part. An album definitely isn't defined by merely by it's best individual songs. It's both the qualities of the individual parts as well as the collective, that I would judge. But in general an album with consistently worse (IMO) parts struggles to win, especially when you're talking about the same artist.I don't think the change in direction should really be a problem for most people. It's not like he's made something totally inaccessible, it's a pretty standard transition.
Not sure saying "there are only X many great songs" really works too. Not all albums are supposed to be judged as a series of songs. Some are more like collages of ideas that aren't strong enough to hold up a individual song on its own but work when you judge the entire album as a single unit.
Having said that, I still haven't made up my mind on the quality of the album. It's nice and pretty but beyond that I'm not sure. There are definitely weak spots in the lyrics too.
Aye, it would definitely be an unusual album that has relatively weak individual tracks but works brilliantly as a whole.I feel I have to clarify on this part. An album definitely isn't defined by merely by it's best individual songs. It's both the qualities of the individual parts as well as the collective, that I would judge. But in general an album with consistently worse (IMO) parts struggles to win, especially when you're talking about the same artist.
Agreed. Have listened to this 5x now and it’s not hitting home at all in comparison to the aforementioned albums. Can appreciate the complexity within each track and the attempt to change direction but it’s not wholly favourable in my eyes.I might be the only one but I think his new stuff is poor. This album and the last one have been full of songs with weak melodies, little emotional resonance, awful voice distortion and just a lot of experimental shit for the sake of it. "For Emma Forever Ago" and, to a lesser extent, the eponymous second album were so much more enjoyable. Branching out and trying new things is fine but not when you forget what brought you to the dance - moving, melodic songs that can connect with a wide range of people. This current stuff just seems overproduced, harsh on the ears and meandering without proper hooks or much that's easily singable. It's like he's just showing off rather than engaging through his music, to me at least. He's gone up his own backside like a lot of artists, though unlike them, he hasn't built up a substantial back catalogue to warrant such deviation from what made him successful.
I used to love Fleet Foxes but they too have gone a similar way.