A.V. Club: Best of the Decade

Artist Bon Iver

  • Bon Iver Drew Kieser
  • Sarah Cass

The backstory on For Emma, Forever Ago, Justin Vernon’s debut album under the name Bon Iver, reads like a musical version of Jon Krakauer’s Into The Wild. Singer-songwriter Vernon holed up in his father’s cabin in northwestern Wisconsin for several months after a series of personal setbacks, including breakups with his band and girlfriend, and a lingering bout with mononucleosis that attacked his liver and kept him in bed for three months. The result is a set of hauntingly beautiful folk songs that make a quiet storm of Vernon’s spectral approach to songwriting and singing. Vernon followed up this year with his Blood Bank EP, which plays like a continuation (and last act of sorts) of For Emma.

Updated 09/18/2009

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