After a debut album that was so infamously confined to a cabin in the woods, it can't help but come as a shock how nomadic Bon Iver's follow-up full length is, even if its expansiveness has been foreshadowed by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon's recent side projects. His new Bon Iver, Bon Iver sets its sails high, drifting from one loosely connected mood piece to the next, each titled after a location (real or imagined), and many colored by the electronic abstractions of Volcano Choir, the session-player soft-rock of Gayngs or the plaintive guitar tones of the 2008 album Vernon produced for Land of Talk, Some Are Lakes. Vernon's feat is packing so many divergent ideas into a record that nonetheless feels every bit as intimate and purposeful as For Emma, Forever Ago, and song for song Bon Iver easily matches the gut-punch beauty of that debut.
Also out this week:
Atari Teenage Riot – Is This Hyperreal?
Dave Alvin – Eleven Eleven
Gomez – Whatever's On Your Mind
Iceage – New Brigade
Jill Scott – The Light of the Sun
LMFAO – Sorry For Party Rocking
Matt Nathanson – Modern Love
Pitbull – Planet Pit
Simple Plan – Get Your Heart On!
Ty Segall – Goodbye Bread
“Weird Al” Yankovic - Alpocalypse
