For Emma, Forever Ago

For Emma, Forever Ago

     A lone cabin. A lonely man. These are the two major flames that sparked Bon Iver’s debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago. After suffering from both a romantic breakup and a breakup from his previous band, DeYarmond Edison, Justin Vernon, singer-songwriter and front man of Bon Iver, picked up his things and retreated to his father’s isolated cabin in the woods amidst a wintery Wisconsin. In just three months of serenity and seclusion, Vernon wrote the lyrics and created the bulk of the music of For Emma, Forever Ago, the album that formed the roots for his new band, Bon Iver. The artist used minimal music equipment, only a few guitars as the main instrumentation, plus a microphone and a laptop to layer his vocals and make his voice imitate a large choir in a majority of the songs. After emerging from the cabin and returning to his home in Raleigh, North Carolina, Vernon next asked some of his friends to add instruments to the tracks, such as the trumpet and trombone. These musician friends later became the other members of Bon Iver. Then, without the help of any professional recording companies, Vernon self-released the album as the sole producer. The cliché “Less is More” could easily be used to classify For Emma, Forever Ago because the album can come off as simplistic at first glance. With a closer look however, one will find how the music is just the tip of the iceberg of Vernon’s message and there is a lot of meaning to be discovered under the surface.

     The conditions under which Justin Vernon worked on this album eerily parallel the 1845 artistic experiment of American Romantic author, Henry David Thoreau, who moved to a small, serene Massachusetts home next to Walden Pond for two years and two months. The result of this experience was the creation of his book, Walden, about the benefits of “retir[ing] to a lonely spot” in nature “--even if only in imagination--to ponder the world and [your] place in it (Witherell). In regards to his decision to isolate himself, Thoreau said, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived” (Thoreau 90).

     By connecting with nature, many Romantics during Thoreau’s time period found their once objective reality of the world could disappear, permitting a renewed awareness of, or relationship to, society. These artists credit their ability to overcome a disconnect between “the self and the world” with their appreciation of nature and their ability to submerge in the essence of nature. (Riasanovsky 71). In the same way, Justin Vernon’s preoccupation with nature and decision to remove himself from society to create For Emma, Forever Ago could demonstrate his attempt to solve a disconnect he feels with society as well as his attempt to figure out his identity after experiencing failed love with both his band and girlfriend. With this album, Vernon is reviving fundamental ideas of Romanticism because “unable to find happiness in the world of man,” the Romanticist often took the time to reflect in only the presence of nature, which served as “an escape from man and reality” (Kravitt 99, 100). In an interview with the A.V. Club, Bon Iver’s singer-songwriter described his seclusion from the world as a form of meditation and reflection saying, “I don't think I really had any clue what was going on while I was there. I was just there” (Vernon).

     In the opening song of the album, Justin Vernon’s submersion into the secluded landscape of Wisconsin is immediately revealed as he paints a picture both lyrically and musically of a calming river. There is an even tempo of the guitar that remains consistent throughout the track, imitating the balanced, continual rhythm of flowing water. The title of this introductory song alone, “Flume,” signifies a deep, narrow stream of water, but specific lines like “I move in water shore, to shore” and “Lapping lakes like leery loons” also add to the imagery. Not only does the artist merely notice or observe these snapshots of nature that surrounds him however, Vernon also sings of a familiar connection between humans and nature with the repeated line, “Sky is womb and she’s the moon.”

      In another track, “For Emma,” the human relationship with nature is reified as the concept of being able to find comfort or refuge in nature or the physical world emerges in the repetition of the line, “Running home.” Like Vernon, Romantics recognized nature as a valuable element of our world that can be a source of inspiration for finding purpose in life (Riasanovsky 70). In this track Bon Iver also reveals evidence of how nature's beauty is an outlet that can break our close-minded, rigid perception of life to open our eyes to a new understanding of both ourselves and the world. In “For Emma,” the artist recognizes the emotional effect that the beauty of nature has on people. He gives a contrasting positive and negative view as he sings, “Saw death on a sunny snow.” Winter is the season that can achieve such a massive emotional response from people because of its gray, cold, dark, barren, dead, and dangerous qualities. Research has even proven that moods of depression, hostility, anxiety, anger and irritability are stronger in the winter months than any other time of the year (Harmatz 349). The singer himself experienced some of these negative feelings as a result of being stuck in what seems like a Winter Wonderland prison for three months. Yet by placing himself in this environment voluntarily, Vernon also witnessed a positive effect of this season by being able to discover himself and reposition his head back on his shoulders through meditating in nature.

     The references to winter reoccur in the rest of the album, working to symbolize the way the artist was viewing the world and society at the time of creating the music. In an interview with Angela Kim of Weekend America, Vernon states that, “Just winter in general was kind of a part of where I was physically and metaphysically as well” “because about February every year is when it gets really hard;” “it's when people's hearts really start to give out” (“Songs in the Dead of Winter”). In “re: Stacks” Justin Vernon sings, “All my love was down in a frozen ground.” These lyrics demonstrate how our surroundings influence us as humans, and can imply that the weight of winter makes the artist want to quit searching for meaning in relationships and give up on seeking love and happiness in life. In the reverse however, this line of lyrics can also reflect how Vernon’s state of becoming out-of-touch with love has made life seem hopeless or worthless. Thus this perspective creates a cold, bleak, and unfulfilling outlook of the world for the artist in the same way people often view life during the winter. The winter motif could show how Vernon thinks he, and the rest of society, is stuck in some sort of rut of our approach to living and in need of a renewal or thawing of both mind and heart. Just as it is difficult for people to shake their depressive moods during the empty, dull, unimaginative, and static winter, Vernon argues that people have been struggling to enlighten themselves to their place in the world and approach life with bright eyes and an open mind.

     The artist claims that society as a whole has been settling for a meaningless life rather than actively working to ask questions, contemplate, find purpose and really live. Evidence for the problem in this behavior is revealed in the track titled “Creature Fear” of the album where Vernon blatantly states, “So many foreign worlds//So relatively fucked.” This single phrase is a major turning point of the song. The melody of the song abruptly shifts from a calming, lullaby-like melody sung by one passive voice to big, busy, drum instrumentation with loud, overpowering, and haunting backup vocals. The musical switch happens so suddenly and unexpected that it mimics the sensation of a friend playing a practical joke by creeping up behind you unnoticed and screaming right in your ear in hopes of making you jump or waking you up. The contrast in music helps to emphasize a sense of urgency in Justin Vernon’s warning and advice to changing the way we view life.

     With a less alarming tone, in “Lump Sum,” Vernon gives his personal testimony that further demonstrates the need for turning to nature in order to reflect and determine our intent and role in society. The artist describes how he feels that something is missing in his life and how nothing he does is ever enough, when he sings, “My mile could not//Pump the plumb.” This song is especially important because it demonstrates the inevitable moment when everything begins to fall apart in Vernon’s life due to being idle and allowing his disorientation, distraction, and disappointment to build up. The line, “All at once//Rushing from the sub-pump,” reintroduces the water symbol from “Flume.” In this track however, the water is no longer innocent, calm, and beautiful; it is overflowing, overarching and overwhelming. But then Vernon continues with the song to reveal positivity in his message when he advises, “Color the era//Film it, it’s historical.” “Color the era” relates to breaking out of the white, wintery environment in order to paint life how we want it and go out and experience the world for ourselves. With just three words, the phrase “Color the era” sums up Bon Iver’s argument and forms a perfect anthem for neo-Romanticism. The new view of the world that neo-Romantics like Justin Vernon advocate for is all about using nature to renew our imagination, knowledge, and understanding so that we may discover fulfillment and purpose in life, as well as better ourselves and society as a whole.

     At the end of “Lump Sum,” Bon Iver uncovers more positivity when he sings, “Balance we won’t know//We will see when it gets warm.” This lyric mentions the most hopeful part of the current state of society being trapped in a winter snowstorm: it is going to come to an end. In this very last line, Vernon’s voice no longer has the cavernous quality to it. His vocals have expanded to hold new weight with both depth and substance backed by a hasty guitar rhythm, showing the artist is ready to look ahead to what will come in the future with this driven attitude of life.

     There is more evidence of healing and hope in the track “Blindsided,” where the singer notices his “feet melt the snow.” Bon Iver’s focus on winter, seasons, and elements of nature in general, all transient and impermanent components of life, shows how our perspectives are also temporary. In other words, Justin Vernon argues that if we invest ourselves in using nature as a channel by which to ponder and reason, it is possible to remove ourselves from the funk of feeling like we do not have direction in life or a place in the world. Throughout the track there are intentional, fluctuating noises intertwined with the consistent bass drum and distinguished guitar, and these crackles, snaps, and inconsistencies weaving in and out of the sound also produce the sentiment that nothing, not our mood, habits, perception, identity, has to last forever. Through the neo-Romantic ideas in For Emma, Forever Ago, Bon Iver urges us to seek out nature and seclusion to reflect and reconsider our will and drive in the way we live life.

     In the iTunes Bonus track, “Wisconsin,” Vernon associates nature with being spiritual, holy or a piece of God’s work, which could be a way to justify his action of turning to nature as a guide for life. Vernon begs, Oh God don't leave me here//I will freeze till the end,” in a whispering voice as if he is speaking under his breath. The notes of a single guitar are muffled like the instrument is underwater, creating echoing sounds that add to the solemn mood of the track. Early Romanticism was greatly affected by and grounded in pantheism, a belief that nature and God are one and the same. This ideology implies that nature is alive, which lends itself to Romantics turning to nature for understanding and direction in finding their role in society (Riasanovsky 72). Although Justin Vernon may not address nature and God as equivalent beings in these lyrics; he does refer to the harsh winter weather as an element that is in God’s control, making him inclined to investigate nature as a means by which to learn about the world and discover a pathway leading to self-realization.  

     The last two songs of the album are “Skinny Love” and “The Wolves (Act I and II).” I chose not to go into detail on “Skinny Love” because it is Bon Iver’s most popular song with its sweeping guitar melody and recognizable chorus, (in fact it is the only song of the entire album that has a concrete chorus.) “The Wolves (Act I and II)” on the other hand, does not receive enough credit in the industry for its beautiful, intricate sound. It is by far the busiest song of the album musically, with a large presence of percussion instruments and an overlapping of Vernon’s intense voice tracks. In addition, it has a section that features dramatic, thundering firework sounds that are too powerful not to be experienced first-hand.

     For Emma, Forever Ago is a monumental piece of work. It not only is Bon Iver’s debut album, but it also laid the stones to create the band altogether. However, the music of this album is most significant in the way that Justin Vernon makes Romanticism relevant in contemporary society through his method for creating the songs as well as his argument. This Bon Iver album suggests that diving into nature as a form of meditation and reflection is effective to developing a distinct awareness of ourselves. By contemplating nature, we are able to connect with ourselves and focus on the course we want our life to follow, the role we desire to hold in the world and the ways in which we can live life to the fullest. Thus, the goal of this neo-Romantic view that Bon Iver presents does more than just promote a realization of our perspective of the world, it serves as a call to action for all of us.

Bibliography

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