Volcano Choir, 'Unmap' (Jagjaguwar)
Folkie loner makes new friends, quirky sounds.
By Spencer Kornhaber 09.12.09 3:40 PM
For this project with Milwaukee quintet Collections of Colonies of Bees, Bon Iver's Justin Vernon turns his sad-shack cabin into a veritable laboratory: Strummed guitars flip between audio channels, metronomic synths ping low in the mix, workshop rhythms build and disintegrate. Auto-Tuned hymn "Woods," off Bon Iver's Blood Bank EP, reappears as an appliance-buzz symphony, while "Island, IS" puts catchy cooing over what sounds like a krautrock breakbeat. Both thrilling and baffling, the nine tracks prove that Vernon's appeal lies in his otherworldly sound, not in his broken heart.
DOWNLOAD: "Island, IS" (DOWNLOAD MP3)












this cd can only be described as eerily beautiful. not for everyone, but if you get it, you'll love it. and i don't even necessarily get it, but i enjoy it nonetheless.
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