Bon Iver: 'Calgary' - an enigmatic beauty

This a song that took Justin Vernon over a year to complete, both lyrically and musically. He wanted to perfect the lyrics so they really reflected the situation he had in his mind. This is admirable, especially so given that his last (and rightfully lauded) LP was a selection of sparse emotionally resonant, acoustic ditties. Such tinkering is brave. And a years toil is deserving of some critical attention, I feel.

                The song is split into a distinct two parts.And an exquisitely crafted two, too. The first minute and a half has a hymnal feel with Vernon's choral delivery of  a series of elliptical images. The blissful contented sounding organ notes further this zen, monastic atmosphere.
   The writing is good too, and benefits from being looked at written down. Lines like "Hair, old, long along/ your neck onto your shoulder blades" both sounds, and is beautiful. But the run on line which aides the meaning obviously isn't heard in the song. So perhaps Vernon has just created something that reads beautifully on paper, but also sounds fantastic as this is all most listeners would be able to hear, or indeed care about anyway. Thus in a sense satisfying himself and his audience.
            Anyway each line stands alone, almost as a distinct entity to the next, and intimates very obliquely of internal struggles , relationships/ loss. Very little is concrete, except the lake, the "one piece swimsuit" and our "bodies"; a recurrent motif. But as we all know these are not permanent or definite. Indeed, in the song, "our bodies.... break" under "little waves." It doesn't take much force to crush the two lovers, or maybe this is what unites them.
              Just before the two minute mark, on the word "Joy", comes the change in the tenor of the song. What, if we were talking about a sonnet, would be called the 'volta' or 'turn'. The beatific first half of the song dissolves as some percussion kicks in then and then on "joy", we get guitars and bass. The song becomes more expansive, leading a listener into the emotional centre point of the song. Into, literally, the "fire." It works up to this through subtle increases in sound, and layering.
                    When this eye of the storm hits it's obvious, Vernon's voice becomes anguished and he drops the falsetto. There is distortion on his vocals and the guitar for the first time. Is it anger, passion? Who knows for sure? But the repeated image of bodies and the "one piece swimmer" hint at desire to me. Also the song, tellingly, moves into the present tense. The sense of immediacy and urgency is palpable. The first time I heard it I was very moved, not least because it strikes a listener almost unawares and is somewhat incongruous with the placid verses. But on reflection and analysis one can notice the build up. It is very subtly done, a bravura masterclass in restraint and understatement.
    This fire that just as it starts is already "burning out" is a profound image of lust or love expiring, perhaps. A flame that is unable to last in the lake. Then the sudden switch back to the verse format. All distortion gone and Vernon sings, once more with almost resignation, of being "sold, as Ever", and the song switches back to the retrospective past tense. It is as if this brief springing into life has taken its toll and the narrator is once again wearied.
           Vernon also neglects traditional verse- chorus- verse  structures, playing with the listener, creating that sense of suspense. As he has repeated verses then the powerful bridge bit, which is the nearest thing to a chorus in the song. It is inventive and powerful, making the song as incendiary and unpredictable as the emotions he describes.
            This is curious and beguiling work; as beautiful as it is mysterious. Like all that is worthwhile in art, it doesn't yield its meaning too easily. It is a song that can be moulded to fit whatever the individual listener brings to it. And all the better for it.

              Just to clear up the meaning of the song once and for all (not); here is the video.

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