“I guess some people embrace the storyand relate to it, or at least recognize something in it that they want forthemselves,” Vernonspeculates. “Or maybe it’s just something that makes the record real for somepeople, something that brings it out of the music industry and down to earth.”
Either way, For Emma, Forever Ago will always be inextricable from that creakycabin. Vernon’schallenge, then, is to make sure he’s not forever typecast just as That GuyFrom the Cabin.
He’s already made great strides inproving his range this year, releasing in January a Bon Iver EP, Blood Bank, that expands For Emma’s sonic palette to greateremphasis on electric guitar and keyboard, and this fall a project that moreaggressively casts him against type: Volcano Choir’s Unmap, the debut from the group that pairs him with the Milwaukeepost-rock ensemble Collections of Colonies of Bees.
With nothing close to resembling atraditional folk song, Unmapjuxtaposes Vernon’sharrowed croon against the band’s looping, ambient clatter. On some tracks, thevoice that anchored For Emma isdistorted beyond recognition; on others it disappears for long stretches amidthe digital patter. The lyrics that are decipherable aren’t particularlybucolic, either. “Island, IS,” for instance, evokes images of hard drives andmechanical sex.
The fixation on technology may stem fromthe album’s recording process. It was pieced together from three years’ worthof sketches Vernonand Collections of Colonies of Bees traded back and forth over e-mail.
“I’ve been a giant Bees fan for years,” Vernon says. “There justcan’t be a bigger fan than me, so the chance to get to work with them wasreally enticing. I’m excited that it shows another part of me and what I do,and particularly what the six of us can do together.”
Collections of Colonies of Bees are justone in a long list of Wisconsin institutions that Vernon feels strongly about. He’s also sungthe praises of The Daredevil Christopher Wright, a chamber-pop band from hisnative Eau Clairehe produced their debut albumand in general he carrieshimself like a walking Visit Wisconsin billboard (he literally wore a BadgersT-shirt on his “Late Show with David Letterman” appearance).
“There are a billion things I love aboutthe state,” he says. “The weather here is just perfect for me; I love theseasons. I think mostly it’s an untouched, untapped sort of natural habitat,with the North Woods, the lakes, the state forests and the river. It’s allreally beautiful. I’ve been all over the world, and of course I’m biased, but Idon’t want to be anywhere else but here … Wisconsin is just where I’m from; it’s givento me, and I feel I should give back to it.”
This weekend Vernon continues giving backby serving as the honorary chair of the 2009 AIDS Walk Wisconsin, performingand participating at the walk on Sunday, Oct. 11, before headlining a post-walkconcert at the Riverside Theater later that night.
“It’s just such an honorable thing, beingable to help a cause this good,” Vernonsays. “We’re just doing our best to spread the word, trying to do whatever wecan to help get people to come out.”
Forinformation on AIDS Walk Wisconsin,visit aidswalkwis.org.
