19 February, 2008

highway of tears

The last thing the world needs is another sad, sensitive boy with a guitar. They're mostly all complete pussies (Sam Beam), self-absorbed liars (Conor Oberst), doomed (Elliot Smith), totally nuts (Will Oldham), or possibly some dangerous combination thereof.

That said, boys with guitars are adorable -- despite the fact that they almost invariably have some variety of unkempt facial hair. So it's fairly predictable that I'd be enraptured with Bon Iver. I just listened to the whole album (For Emma, Forever Ago) through, but just once. It's nothing shocking; mostly devoid of percussion, lots of strummy-strummy, and lonely lyrics delivered in a soft, multi-tracked falsetto. He has a nice voice, and it serves the songs well, but the one occasion that he drops to his lower register and belts out a chesty chorus is the album's obvious highlight. Here's that:

Bon Iver-Skinny Love

There are a couple other standout tracks too, like re:stacks, and Blindsided (I think that's the one). It's worth a listen anyway.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, Elliot didn't have the best luck, but he still made good music. Connor is self-absorbed, I'll grant you, but a liar? Isn't that kind of harsh?

adam isn't here said...

i actually love all of those boys with guitars that i mentioned. i just think conor would say anything to make a girl fall in love with him.

Anonymous said...

You know, the more I think about it, the more I think I loathe Conor Oberst as a person. I've always felt really uncomfortable admitting to anybody that I listen to bright eyes (a lot, actually). Maybe that's why. I'm diggin' your boy Bon, btw. I think he could really grow on me...