Only Love is All Maroon:
An Interview with Bon Iver
With
all your lies, you're still very lovable.
- "For Emma"
Posted: September 10, 2008
Interview by Anna-Lynne Williams
Image courtesy of Tim Lytbinenko
Bon Iver's Justin Vernon first released For
Emma, Forever Ago on his own, after writing and recording an
album's worth of material in an isolated cabin in Wisconsin over
three months. The nine songs have since been re-released by Jagjaguwar
in the US and on 4AD in the UK. After several stellar performances
on high-profile shows like Later...With Jools Holland,
and at festivals like SXSW, Bon Iver is already an integrated and
influential presence in indie music.
I haven't listened to an album this many times since Kings of Convenience
released their last album in 2004. For Emma is full of
introspective songs that never wallow or depress, with sharp word
play and melodies that are instantly hummable and important.
Am I allowed to ask about the "the garment" that
you refer to in "Flume"?
I'm not sure. Just any clothes, really. But it's what you are allowing
the other person to see, by the "way" you wear it.
Is Bon Iver a permanent name that you're going to use in
your future endeavors, or is it more a name for a particular project,
time, and place?
It's a name for a project. This project. This lineage of songs.
It may stretch a lifetime.
Do you have any difficulty revisiting the themes of this
album, considering the inspiration for it? Is the album bittersweet
for you?
No. The album is a record of the event of me writing music during
a certain time and place; I don't know if it could be bittersweet.
Has music always been a way for you to clear your head
or work through the issues in your life, or was this project a sort
of revelation?
Music has always been a kind of "way" of understanding
myself.
What music did you grow up listening to? Do you feel that
your sound now incorporates the music of your upbringing, or denounces
it?
John Prine. Tom Waits. It doesn't denounce it, but it doesn't hinge
on it exclusively.
What are 3 things that you love?
Time. Music. Family.
What makes you unhappy?
Being unhappy. Living days as regrettable, unenjoyable things, as
opposed to doing what you love EVERYDAY. Not just as a hobby.
What recent albums or artists are you enjoying?
I'm not sure if you mean recent or for me, recenty, but I have been
listening to a songwriter by the name of Willis Alan Ramsey. He
wrote "Muskrat Love" for Captain and Tennille. His album
rules.
Visit Bon Iver on MySpace: www.myspace.com/boniver
Identity Theory's recommended listening: "Flume"
and "Blindsided" by Bon Iver
__
|
