The name says it all. A deliberate misspelling of the French for ‘good winter’, Bon Iver makes hushed, creaky folk music. This perfectly pleasant predictability characterises this LP. Recorded in a hunting cabin in northwest Wisconsin, it is sadly missing the terror of being lost in the woods, the intimately epic old-time spirit of moonshine and wolves, the endless American endlessness.
Instead, it is merely pleasant. Background music to while away a dark night. Sure the atmosphere is there, but it’s the sort of thing you’d put on when the trees are creaking, bears are creeping in the leafmeal and your boring sister from the home counties has come to stay and she wants to listen to some of that new-fangled obscure music you so love. See, kidz, there’s too many beardy men doing hushed folk music, yano? And it’s important to separate the wheat from the chaff. Pick: Creature Fear.
5/10
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