Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
List Price:
Our Price: $10.88
You Save: $4.10 (27%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Music CD
See more CD details
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
CD Details
Artist: Bon IverEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2008-02-19
Music Label: Jagjaguwar
Soundtracks:
- Flume
- Lump Sum
- Skinny Love
- Wolves (Act I and II)
- Blindsided
- Creature Fear
- Team
- For Emma
- Re: Stacks
Music reviews of For Emma, Forever Ago
Music Review: A Cobblestone Street in Vienna
Rating: 4 Stars
I read an interview of Bon Iver, in which the singer/songwriter told a story of a man in Iceland who wrote him a letter to tell the musician that when he first listened to For Emma, Forever Ago he broke down in tears.
One gander through this icy, melancholic, austere, and beautiful album and you understand the story above.
Understand the story, but not so much the origin of the unknown man's tears - or, for that matter, your own. It is hard to listen to this album and not get sentimental. For this album lingers in the recesses of more complicated emotion, in between joy or depression, somewhere in the hazy, gray, middle area of melancholia or solitary bliss.
This album leaves listeners more moved than pensive. Its lyrics are nonsensical, but brim over with meaning.
This album is a stranger you pass at night along a rain-covered, cobblestone street in Vienna, who you swear you know from somewhere - but with no clue from where.
Description of For Emma, Forever Ago
Justin Vernon began recording as Bon Iver following the breakup of DeYarmond Edison, an indie folk group similar in tone and manner to Iron & Wine, Little Wings and, to a certain extent, Bonnie "Prince" Billy. Pronounced 'bohn eevair', it is French for "good winter" which is spelled wrong deliberately. This debut CD is centered around Justin Vernon, who is the primary force behind Bon Iver, as he moved to a remote cabin in the woods of Northwestern Wisconsin at the onset of winter, alone for three months. From this solitary time emerged a bold, uninhibited new musical focus of all his personal trouble, lack of perspective, heartache, longing, love, loss, and guilt that had been stockpiled over the past six years into songs. The NY Times called this record "irresistible", and it was given a "Recommended" rating by Pitchfork. 9 tracks. Jagjaguwar Records. 2008.It's hard to believe that For Emma, Forever Ago is the work of one man. But when Justin Vernon's old band split he hauled himself (and presumably plenty of instruments and recording equipment) to his dad's hunting cabin in the woods of Wisconsin for the coldest season and worked through his issues in musical form. (The name comes from the French for "good winter"--"bon hiver"). By the start of the spring thaw he had recorded the bulk of this stunning debut, originally self-issued to acclaim last year in the USA and now picked up for a British release. Vernon's voice grabs the ear from the start, switching easily into a smooth falsetto (and unusually for a white indie lad, without the slightest intent of emulating Prince). The formula is straightforward. He layers his vocal harmonies, while a gently strummed acoustic rhythm guitar just about holds the centre. All else from horns to slide guitar is mere detail. The quality is rough and ready but the effect is strangely similar though to the slick vocal confections of European women like Bjork and Camille, all mystery and distance. It's the musical equivalent of reading someone else's diary. In code. Through a dirty window. Enigmatic songs like the elegantly stumbling "Creature Fear" with its rowdy horn parts, the resolute opener "Flume" and the evanescent "Team" are just so pretty they seem to glide by without leaving a mark in the snow. Vernon is apparently a straightforward and friendly guy, but For Emma, Forever Ago genuinely sounds like something from a far off place. --Steve Jelbert
General CDs
Music Genres
Bestsellers in General CDs
Kings of Leon - Only by the NightRCA; Release date: 2008-09-23; Music CD
Best price: $7.87
Price in other shops:
Muse - The ResistanceRelease date: 2009-09-15; Music CD
Best price: $8.49
Price in other shops:
Twilight SoundtrackRelease date: 2008-11-04; Music CD
Best price: $8.05
Price in other shops:
Creed - Full CircleCreed; Release date: 2009-10-26; Music CD
Best price: $9.47
Price in other shops:
Foo Fighters - Greatest Hits (Deluxe CD+DVD)Sony; Release date: 2009-11-03; Music CD
Best price: $11.94
Price in other shops:
Pink Martini - Splendor in the GrassDig; Release date: 2009-10-27; Music CD
Best price: $11.80
Price in other shops:
![Live at Royal Albert Hall [CD/DVD] Image](/images/Live-at-Royal-Albert-Hall-CD-DVD-B002Q4TKAY-X.jpg)
The Killers - Live at Royal Albert Hall [CD/ DVD]Dig; Release date: 2009-11-10; Music CD
Best price: $12.44
Price in other shops:
They Might Be Giants - Here Comes ScienceRelease date: 2009-09-08; Music CD
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
Owl City - Ocean EyesRelease date: 2009-07-28; Music CD
Best price: $7.99
Price in other shops:
The Twilight Saga: New Moon SoundtrackRelease date: 2009-10-16; Music CD
Best price: $9.44
Price in other shops:
Similar CDs
Blitzen Trapper - FurrDig; Release date: 2008-09-23; Music CD
Best price: $9.31
Price in other shops:
M. Ward - Hold TimeRelease date: 2009-02-17; Music CD
Best price: $11.07
Price in other shops:
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post PavilionRelease date: 2009-01-20; Music CD
Best price: $10.34
Price in other shops:
Andrew Bird - Noble BeastRelease date: 2009-01-20; Music CD
Best price: $9.31
Price in other shops:
Dark Was the NightRelease date: 2009-02-17; Music CD
Best price: $11.44
Price in other shops:
TV on the Radio - Dear ScienceRelease date: 2008-09-23; Music CD
Best price: $9.61
Price in other shops:
Fleet Foxes - Sun Giant EPDig; Release date: 2008-04-08; Music CD
Best price: $3.44
Price in other shops:
Grizzly Bear - VeckatimestDig; Release date: 2009-05-26; Music CD
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
Fleet Foxes - Fleet FoxesFLEET FOXES; Release date: 2008-06-03; Music CD
Best price: $9.90
Price in other shops:
Bon Iver - Blood BankRelease date: 2009-01-20; Music CD
Best price: $7.98
Price in other shops: