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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Heavenly Apparatus

Some vintage (circa 1991) synths

Right, here's the confession: I don't really do electronic music. I find it hard to relate to the incessant thumping of monotonous "beats" designed for those with artificially enhanced levels of serotonin. What can be done to improve upon the exalted rock & roll trinity of guitar, bass and drums? Are they not the perfect musical vehicle to convey emotion and feeling. And feeling is what is lacking in electronic music, right? What it gains in synthy trickery it loses in raw human passion. It's either nerdy music for people who stay in their rooms too much, or conversely, a sonic background appropriate to accompany complete inebriation and senselessness.

What can a machine do that a human voice or traditional instrument can't? And anyway, these songs aren't really songs as they don't have any words. And sans words sans meaning.

                         Drum and Bass is anathema to me, as is house, techno, grime and dubstep. Though I find the James Blake thingy OK as it has singing in it (so it doesn't count) but the Feist original is much better, of course. I mean, if it was good enough (the rock & roll trinity, I mean) for everyone from the Stones, Beatles, Hendrix, Bobs Marley & Dylan, to Fleetwood Mac, New Order, Radiohead, REM and The Pumpkins, then why bother with anything else? As the palette of musical expression permitted by these humble three instruments is evidently so great.
             But wait, hang on a minute, don't Radiohead use electronic stuff in their music, and New Order too? That Blue Monday riff certainly isn't done on a guitar. And Bob Marley, I'm sure there's a whiff of a synth or two in there somewhere. Fleetwood Mac, that's sacred though, yes. Er , no, not past the days of Peter Green, anyway. So there is electronic music everywhere, insidiously sneaking its way into the most unlikely of places. And this somewhat defeats my point, or to be more accurate my feeling, that electronic music is to be distrusted. It is everywhere. I mean, any album that has been in any way produced or seen a mixing deck is indebted to technology. Even Luddites like, say, The White Stripes. Ok, maybe not them.

                But to say that synths are symptomatic of artifice and insincerity, is an easy, if inaccurate point to make. I suppose it stems from the eighties and the predisposition of bands such as Duran Duran to over produce music to within an inch of its life. Headphone music. But not the kind of headphone music that has had me enamoured for the whole of my music listening existence. And herein lies the distinction for me, I suppose, between synths for good and synths for bad. The bad synth is symptomatic of an all is surface aesthetic, (i.e the worst of the eighties) songs that may as well have been sung by a robot such is their vapidity. I'm thinking of cheese pop at its worst (Wham, Duran Duran) catchy, good time songs songs they may be, but do they make me want to regurgitate my lunch? Yes. Sorry gay guys.
               However, the more I think about this, the more I realise my gripe is less about electronics and fiddlyness per se and more to do with how that fiddlyness is used. It is the artificial nature of the songwriting not the sound itself that irks me. Indeed, when Radiohead go onstage, a Martian in the audience could be forgiven for thinking that some particularly showy members of Nasa had just shown up to give a demonstration of how they detect black holes, or something.They really take gadgetry to new heights. Jonny Greenwood would probably be a valuable asset to Nasa, such is his digital (and analogic) mastery.
                  Anyway, back to my good/ bad synth dichotomy. The good synth is the kind that Interpol use, subtly, when they know they have a killer chorus, or the sounds that emanate from Messrs Yorke or Greenwood's keyboards. These synths are used for the force of good as they help create an atmosphere and aid the emotional tenor of a song. They do so in ways far more varied and nuanced than is possible on even the most inventive of fretboards.
                Some of my favourite examples of synth use have been in the so called shoegaze bands such as Cocteau Twins, or My Bloody Valentine. In the latter, a vast Spector-esque wall of sound is amassed, creating a dense, woozy feel appropriate for the lovesongs on the classic Loveless album. They help give the album its inimitable intensity, see song What You Want for a sublime case in point. This is what I call  good headphone music. Guitars and synths working in tandem, reaching the parts the other cannot.
                This leads me to another lesser known band whose work I adore. The Berlin based purveyor of moody house, Sascha  Ring, better known as Apparat. His work is appropriate to the above discussion as he has opened for Radiohead, makes exclusively electronic music, and is indubitably influenced by the above bands. His music is also unashamedly emotional, and in this specific example, positively euphoric.This is music that could only have been produced electronically- the slight fuzz throughout the song which segues into the  titular "Black Water" of the outro. The transitions are so smooth. The layering of sound so pristine, with the gossamer high notes tinkling in the background. This is electronic music being used in an organic way: to service emotion.It has soul.
  So as I have been intimating all along I am a somewhat unwitting lover of electronic music. It is unavoidable, everywhere. And is a wholly unjustified phobia of mine. We live in a technological age and music is ineluctably bound up in it.To its own benefit.

          Incidentally, Apparat don't sing all that much on their records so this is somewhat atypical, but I like his voice. It really reminds me of Colin Lightbody from Snow Patrol, whose music they are not a million miles away from. That may sound derogatory but to me their sound occupies a middle ground between full on house and a kind of electronic Coldplay, though endlessly more inventive, invigorating and entertaining.It is similar in its elegiac tone, which I think is a good thing. It is immersive music. Now go and dive in. And pass me those headphones.

          

Apparat - Black Water by Mute UK




Oh, and I really do hate drum and bass.