blackleatherbookshelf | May. 1st, 2012

Bon Iver makes his "Kid A"
3 Out Of 5 Stars

There was a joke on "Saturday Night Live," where Justin Timberlake plays Justin Vernon, and sings a Bon Iver song to a newborn baby. The punchline is that Timberlake/Vernon falls asleep singing to himself. That's a cut a bit too close to the truth for "Bon Iver," the new CD from Vernon's namesake. There's a lot of tinkling drone, falsetto sweeteners and the occasional surprise instrumental appearances (a slide guitar in "Towers," etc.).

Taken in small doses, "Bon Iver" comes off as an even moer laid back version of Fleet Foxes, or an Ambient Peter Gabriel. Try and listen to the album all at once and you're going to get the SNL baby effect. Sometimes, like on "Calgary," he plays with traditional rock, other times, like "Hinnom TX," his experimental side takes him into "Amnesiac" territory, and that is not meant as a compliment. "Bon Iver" is, like that Radiohead album, both an acquired taste and a love it/hate it recording. I find it far more boring and static than exciting and artful.