Jagjaguwar

The second disc from Bon Iver, the indie folk outfit led by musician Justin Vernon, is less a collection of songs than it is a meditation on place – on how one’s locale translates in one’s art. The self-titled follow-up to 2008’s beloved album For Emma, Forever Ago names each of its 10 tracks after a place (specific or vaguely metaphorical), anchoring the lovely, haunting music in a concrete environment. Does dulcet opener “Perth” sound like you’d expect the distant Australian city to sound? Perhaps not, but that’s also not the point. The real question is: what is it about Perth and Vernon’s experiences there that led him to craft the hushed, delicate soundscape? “Holocene,” seemingly named for a geological era, is the record’s most arresting number – a gentle, lush layering of acoustic sounds that evoke a longing in the listener mirrored by Vernon’s aching croon. Closer “Beth/Rest” strips away some of those previous songs’ layers, pairing Vernon’s voice with a raw piano backdrop. There’s a subtly epic quality here, a resounding triumph that echoes through the folky instrumentals. Mostly, though, the songs on Bon Iver are best characterized as beautiful.