LP and POSTER giveaway details at the end of the review
Volcano Choir
Unmap
Jagjaguwarout September 22nd

80/100
[Rating Scale]


When I became aware that the man behind Bon Iver was working on a more experimental project called Volcano Choir, I, like many other Justin Vernon worshipers, expected “Wolves (Acts III and IV)”. What I should have paid more attention to is that Volcano Choir is not merely Justin Vernon’s new pseudonym, and this overlooked fact made listening to Unmap a more exciting and surprising experience than I had anticipated. As wonderful as the Bon Iver moniker is, the thrill of teamwork between Vernon and Wisconsin’s Collections of Colonies of Bees practically emanating from the album makes listening to Unmap an original, engaging, and altogether different experience than For Emma, Forever Ago.

I believe that above all other reasons for the endless re-playability of Bon Iver’s debut, it is his voice that keeps bringing you back. Call it a broken-down Tunde Adebimpe, a more versatile Will Oldham, or just some sad guy all alone in a cabin. However you would like to describe it, it is a striking feature. For the first thirty-three seconds of album opener, “Husks and Shells,” the hero of so many fractured youths and broken-hearted twenty-somethings is nowhere to be found, and you might convince yourself that you accidentally put on The Books. Before you can move to change the song, however, that voice appears and though what it is saying may be indecipherable, merely hearing it allows you to remember just who it is you are listening to. For thirty-three seconds you are forced into hearing Volcano Choir as a separate entity from Bon Iver. This is exactly what Volcano Choir are aiming for. Continue reading →