According to the all powerful gospel of knowledge Wikipedia Neofolk is “a form of folk music-inspired experimental music that emerged from post-industrial music circles.”

Bon Iver is the new golden boy of these wailing geetar types, maybe not fitting into the exact same category but Espers, Iron and Wine and Cocteau Twins will pop into the head when listening to this album. Mr Iver decided to live in the woods for a considerable period to cry about something. There is an episode of Seinfeld where Kramer renounces modern life and becomes a ‘wild man of the woods’, attempting to reconcile his love of creature comforts like hot tubs and vintage clothing for a new life of nuts, berries and loin cloths. Bon Iver has done pretty much the same thing but with decidedly less humourous results.

This is good news for us though. His self-imposed hibernation, tree chopping, eating his own smell and foraging have produced a beauty of an album, although he does play on the prince of pain part a wee bit too much. Scuffed, confessional acoustic laments are the order of the day, shot through with doe-eyed soul and lo-fidelity.

Bon Iver – Skinny Love 

Tags: Bon Iver, Cocteau Twins, Espers, Iron and Wine

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 23rd, 2008 at 7:49 pm and is filed under Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.