For the second day in a row, we’ve opted to feature a track from a band on the Jagjaguwar roster. We swear: we’re not trying to suck up. We just can’t help but be blown away by first, the badass The Cave Singers and now by the return of Bon Iver, the band that knocked us flat on the ground in 2008 with its debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago.
Justin Vernon & Co. released the first single, “Calgary,” this week. Gone are the days of Bon Iver’s melancholy reflection, pulled from secret chambers of the heart and laid to rest on For Emma by a snowed-in, acoustic guitar. That album, while, of course, absolutely freaking gorgeous, feels definitive with its diction and goddamn comfortable in its solitary.
“Calgary” feels expansive, searching, dynamic. When I close my eyes and listen, I can’t help but imagine a wide open highway. The synth instantly drags Bon Iver from the cabin in the woods, and the dense lyrics now wash the band in abstract mystery.
For Emma needed just one look; the new album, if “Calgary” is a good example, requires a double take.
Bon Iver – Calgary [via Pitchfork]
Pitchfork (and others) just announced yesterday that certain pre-order bundles of the new album (out June 21st) will contain a Bon Iver 12″ that features not one, but two Bonnie Raitt covers including the 1991 smooth (non)love jam, “I Can’t Make You Love Me.” Wow, does that take me back to the day.
Pre-order, Bon Iver, here.