and then i hear this...

it's been a long time since i've heard anything as hauntingly beautiful as this. probably around this time with beirut was the closest i have come recently. but not even close really.

bon iver (french for 'good winter' and purposely misspelt) is a greeting, a celebration and a sentiment, and it’s exactly what the music of justin vernon represents.

even before i found out about the backstory, the record exuded such a strong sense of loneliness and isolation that you couldn’t help but get lost in it. vernon moved to his father's remote cabin in the woods of north-western wisconsin at the onset of winter escaping from the breakup of his long time band and relationship for four months, “I was about 25 miles from anything- even a gas station- and even miles from another home. the only thing you'd really hear is a slight howl from the highway and then maybe birds, but really it was so quiet. I had nothing but the sound of my own thoughts, and they were really loud.”

he lived there alone filling his days with twelve-hour recording blocks, wood splitting and other chores around the land, “… about february every year is when it gets really hard. and I think the starkness and the greyness and the lack of sun, and when the dirt and the salt sort of build up at the side of the roads, i think it's when people's hearts really start to give out...that's when you remember it the most.” the end result is for emma, forever ago. despite the layers and complexity, the record was created with nothing more than a few microphones, some aged recording equipment and the constant echo of better times will come.

debut album, be better. impossible. soooooo it makes me wish it was raining so i could sit inside and just put them on repeat and do sweet f-a (except maybe drink warm apple cider like it was my job). but instead it's sunny, i'm at work and lily allen is on triple j... headphones please.

i didn't want to link a track because you really have to listen to the whole thing but anyway here's (one of the nine) highlights.

bon iver- the wolves (act i and ii)