It’s winter in Buffalo, which means blistering cold, heavy snowfall, and a blustery wind that seems to only blow when I’m on campus. We are not alone in trying to survive the winter, and Bon Iver has made a soundtrack for that attempt. His latest EP, Blood Bank, a victory lap of sorts for his acclaimed full-length For Emma, Forever Ago, gives winter a bleak, sometimes distorted, voice that will stick in your head for days.
Bon Iver, which is a take on the French saying for “good winter” (bon hiver), is the pseudonym of Justin Vernon, who started the band in a remote cabin in Wisconsin. Coming off of a breakup both of his band, Deyarmond Edison, and his girlfriend, Vernon secluded himself in the woods for three months chopping wood, watching Northern Exposure DVD’s, and writing songs for his full length. After the much deserved success that the album received, Vernon went to work on Blood Bank. The title track was originally supposed to be on For Emma, but instead found its way here. If you’ve never heard Bon Iver before, this is a good starting point.
Vernon, equipped with only his flannel, jeans, and guitar, finds love in (you guessed it) a blood bank. We don’t know what brought them there, but it sure is an interesting place to meet someone. “You said see look that’s you/ stacked on top with your brothers’ / see how they resemble one another / even in their plastic little covers.” Even when the reverb drenched guitars threaten to overrun the song, Vernon’s voice rings out as the greatest instrument. It has the power to romanticize the normal, from sitting in a car that won’t start, to holding onto the hands of a girl who’s chewing on a candy bar.
The second song, even with the title “Beach Baby,” deals more with the shores of the great lakes in January than Brian Wilson’s “California.” This time the gentle strum of a warm acoustic is the only thing that brings us along. The song drags out a bit, seeming like an after thought. “Babys,” the next song, wakes us up again with a staccato piano and a nervous guitar. Vernon’s voice is what stands out again, however. Even when he’s talking about summer, the song isn’t what you’d play when it is 80 degrees outside. Instead it’s the hope that summer will come, even when it seems so far away.
The last track is sort of a dilemma. Auto-tune, the device that made T-Pain into the star that he is, has seeped even into the deepest crevices of independent music. Layers upon layers of voices exclaim, “I’m up in the woods / I’m down on my mind / I’m building a still / to slow down the time.” However, it works. Just like Kanye’s latest album, it fits with the hopelessness of winter. Vernon wants to slow down time, even when everyone else is just praying for the thaw. Maybe it’s because this is his time. He was made for winter, with a voice that seems like he was just outside for the past ten hours meandering through the forest.
Clocking in at just 16 minutes, this EP is short and sweet. It’s made for those cold walks from Ellicott to the Union, or even just for going through Knox tunnel. The record leaves you with the feeling that there is romanticism during these few months a year, even when one’s surroundings refutes that. Hopefully Bon Iver won’t change up the formula anytime soon, because it works.
