Seeing Bon Iver the other night made me want to remember how to write music and figure out how to write words better and more frequently and go back to taking hundreds of photos a month and hours of guitar a day and it made me want to forgive everyone who has ever wronged me and learn how to really and properly be okay with myself rather than walking on eggshells because I’m so afraid that I might suddenly crack and become someone I absolutely despise again and it made me want to do drugs for all the right reasons (to see what my mind and body are capable of and understand myself and the world a little better) rather than all the wrong reasons (to hurt myself and self destruct and forget that I exist and stop thinking).
I could also say that the onstage chemistry was incredible, Justin Vernon’s voice flawless, and the experience of sharing something so wonderful with 11,000 other people was an incomparable feeling of connection and unity, and the main reason I love live music so much. I could expand on all those things but the above paragraph is far more honest and even this is taking away from the sentiment.
I can’t wait until Radiohead.
If you’re not experimenting I don’t really know what you’re doing; you’re basically just musically jerking off a bunch of times. And nobody wants to watch anybody masturbate.Justin Vernon (of Bon Iver)
Writing that song, you realise that it’s really silly how much time people like you and me spend thinking about the aesthetics of recording, and what they mean, and how they tie certain people to other people just because of how it sounds. You know, it’s got a guitar in it, so it’s folk music, or it’s got a beat in it, so it’s hip hop… For me, it was about resting, it comes to a place and you just let go, and I let go to write that song and allow myself to be in that space. It didn’t feel ironic to me, it didn’t feel like I changed anything. It was like I was letting go of things that [were] not letting me write that song before that. It represents that place in someone’s life when they let go.Justin Vernon on Beth/Rest
This album is absolutely beautiful. It takes a bit of work initially, but once you start hearing it properly, it’s the most divine, lonely, gorgeous music. I’ve listened to it twice today and I could easily listen to it until I go to sleep. And his voice! The harmonies and the double tracking, it sounds like the cover looks. Like a cold, rich winter. Most albums can have seasons attributed to them, and this is possibly the most wintery album I’ve ever heard. It makes me want to wake up with cold feet and go back to wearing 7 layers to school, those months where warm drinks are a saving grace. Where getting out of the ridiculous skirt they make you wear to school and into something weather appropriate is the greatest relief there is.
For the first time in my life I miss winter, and this album brings me closer to it. Bon Iver, you’re wonderful, and I plan on seeking out more of your music post haste!
Bon Iver - Skinny Love (live on Jools Holland)
Come on skinny love just last the year
Pour a little salt we were never here
My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my
Staring at the sink of blood and crushed veneer
I tell my love to wreck it all
Cut out all the ropes and let me fall
My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my
Right in the moment this order’s tall
And I told you to be patient
And I told you to be fine
And I told you to be balanced
And I told you to be kind
And in the morning I’ll be with you
But it will be a different kind
And I’ll be holding all the tickets
And you’ll be owning all the fines
Come on skinny love, what happened here?
Suckle on the hope in light brassieres
My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my
Sullen load is full, so slow on the split
And I told you to be patient
And I told you to be fine
And I told you to be balanced
And I told you to be kind
And now all your love is wasted
And then who the hell was I?
And I’m breaking at the britches
And at the end of all your lines
Who will love you?
Who will fight?
Who will fall far behind?
