Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

At a time when you can't look at any music website without the inevitable 'Best of 2008' lists, I've refrained from doing my own, for the simple reason that I'm not decisive enough. My choices would vary wildly on a daily basis, and, such has been my rapid turnover of records recently, I'd probably omit something that I enjoyed in February in favour of a record from November.

Instead, what I've been doing on here in the last few weeks is post a smattering of my favourites from this year. This hasn't really been a conscious effort, it goes back to my original point, that this is the time of year when you start to look back. Therefore, perverse to the last, I'm ending 2008 not with fireworks, but with a gentle whisper in the form of For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver.

It's one of 2008's most blogged records, and a staple in the aforementioned best of lists, but I still felt I wanted to put my two penn'oth in. Jeremy Warmsley recently pointed out on Drowned in Sound that nobody seems to be capable of talking about this album without mentioning it being recorded in a log cabin, but in the unlikely event that J Wo is reading this, I'm going to irk him further. Perhaps it's psychological conditioning from reading it so many times, but on listening to the album, I immediately feel transported to a shack in the middle of nowhere. In my opinion, the surroundings are central to the atmosphere of the album, they are at the heart of every gentle strum, every note that Justin Vernon breathes.

In short, it's a beautiful album. Highlights for me include 'Skinny Love', and closing track 're:Stacks'. It's short (9 tracks, and less than 40 minutes), but brevity is a virtue in this case. No need to over-egg the pudding. I'm a great believer that there are good and bad times of the day to listen to a record, and in this case it's very much a 'wee small hours' job. Last night I listened to it at about 3AM, and it's the most I've enjoyed it.

Bon Iver has a new EP coming out in the new year, called 'Blood Bank' and it seems pretty good. This is just one of a number of new records due out in 2009 (both definite and just rumoured) which I'm looking forward to getting my hands on. After a few weeks of looking back at 2008, I'm now planning to spend some time looking forward to next year. There's no point thinking about album of the year 2009 contenders though. Not because it's too early, but because Animal Collective have clearly already claimed that with their mind-bogglingly good Merriweather Post Pavilion.

Download: Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago