Bon Iver – How Can a Record Do So Much Healing?

These days, time seems frozen. Frozen like the glaciers of the arctic snow beaches. The sand glistens like salt, as the sun touches the ice to magnify its glass structure. We see beauty in the most delicate things. We taste a better tomorrow in order to remind ourselves of life’s magnitude. The evolution of the human species has been a tremendous journey. Our hearts melted into emotional baggage that has been carried through centuries of triumph and defeat.

Stories have a power to create a path for future species to grow in a better atmosphere. A better climate. A better reason to enjoy the blinks of our eyelashes to the curling of our toes from pure excitement or nervousness. We can laugh through happy tears. We can smile when it feels like the world is pushing against us. Enjoy the ride. With our amazing loved ones, we can be the sole apprentices of our own well-being. Bon Iver has brought the best parts of life in their fourth studio album, “I,I”

Good Winters

Founded by lead singer Justin Vermon, American indie folk band Bon  Iver graced our music realm in 2006. After ending his ties with former band DeYarmond Edison, Vermon spent the following winter packed away in his father’s cabin in Wisconsin, USA. While recovering from mononucleosis and hepatitis, he hibernated and cleansed his mind. Inspired by the  1990s TV series “Northern Exposure” where an episode depicts Alaskan citizens greeting each other upon the first signs of winter, “Boniverre” meaning “good winter”.

Indie folk is a music genre that developed in the  1990s from the indie rock scene that was wildly influenced by folk music. Contemporary folk music references various genres that hit the earth in the mid-20^th century. Centering around US history, the fusion of folk rock evolved through “American folk music revival”  artists such as Pete Seeger, Phil Ochs, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan, all prominent figures of the folk music movement in the 1960s. Indie folk melts together acoustic guitar melodies with traditional folk music, layered with contemporary instrumentation.

Showing the influence of alternative rock, the artists alongside Bon Iver (Fleet Foxes, The Whale, Blind Pilot and The Cave Singers) uphold the genre’s historical roots in unique ways. With revolving members, Bon Iver  won the Best New Artist and Best Alternative Music alum at the 2012 Grammy Awards for his self-titled album “Bon Iver”. The band  is touring cities throughout the world such as Shanghai, Berlin, and Oslo.

In 2018, the band collaborated on the dance series “Come Through” centered around TU DANCE, which showcased multiple contemporary dance pieces. The event gave a great outlet for the band to premiere various tracks of the upcoming album. That following year, the band released a short documentary called “Bon Iver: Autumn” discussing the highly anticipated album “I,I” . That August, Bon Iver held free worldwide listening parties to preview “I,I” in over 60 locations around the world. The substantial reviews only made more listeners excited as they welcomed the masterpiece on August 30, 2019.

Lead with Emotional Voices

“Danger been steppin in. I’m happy as I’ve ever been. Couldn’t tell ya what the cadence is.  It’s folded in the evidences.” Danger leads the human body to recognize. To love a bit harder than previously. When it feels like the world is starting to freeze into a portal of chaos, destruction, false illusion mixed with tame sanity,  it’s times like these where we come together.

In the track “Holyfields” the eerie sounds tell a story of recognition. The song embodies the nature of coming together through culture, traditions, beliefs, to be bonded together for a higher purpose. A purpose so we can all live with the strongest of love. We shake. We cry. We Bleed. We are surprised by the happening of the world, even when we think our stories have been told.

As I sit here typing this article, I find myself looking out the window at times, basking in the idea of a smoother tomorrow. It’s safe to say, I’m not alone. Maybe life can’t be easier, but it can be better. Better in the sense that everyone can help push the world into a functional orbit. An orbit of understanding. An orbit of reasoning. An orbit of happiness.

We’ll all be gone in the fallen light

mutters in a solemn tone through the outlet of emotional melodies and impressions in the track “Jelmore”. As the tears fall down my face. I am bombarded by sounds and melodies that hit my soul to the core. This album has the strength to cure millions! My tears aren’t sad tears. They are produced from the soothing part of my heart. This album makes me remember the love of past ones,  smiles for my existing kingdom that my family has spent years building and makes sure that I won’t fall so suddenly. My friends that synch our heartbeats as one. We are invincible. My faith in a happier future becomes more apparent through this album.

Bon Iver has this mystical power to create an atmosphere of acceptance and ownership for all things right in the world. This album gave me chills of revolutionary change. The sparks that subsided in the darkest part of my mind, came bursting to the ceiling of my cranium, pushing its way out of me excited to show the world of its presence. This album could do no wrong. With the strongest 9 ½ out of 10, there is no con for this overwhelming album.

So, I  ask you, reader, What makes you happy? Let that question sink in that beautiful skin as you fall though the bumpy hole of your memories. Grab onto those moments that made you just feel right! That moment when you just felt free! Create a collage of your happy times as you feel that warm sensation of happiness. Smile just to smile. A kind hug infects the body of all things love. Do you feel it? When you do, remember that power and ability to center your mind and spirit and fill up that soul with everything that makes you, you! The road you will walk on may lead to dead ends, but you are strong enough to retrace your steps and find a different path, suitable for you. Bon Iver, thank you.

Listen to Bon Iver now!

More music reviews from the author here.

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