Beautifully haunted and heartbreaking, For Emma, Forever Ago is one of those albums with a great story that inextricably links person, place and time. Justin Vernon is Bon Iver the way Sam Beam is Iron & Wine, or at least was upon the release of the latter's debut Creek Drank the Cradle, and Emma is arguably that album's closest contemporary peer.
Vernon's soulful falsetto, spare guitar arrangements and hints of Grizzly Bear's house-bound pop combine to create a wintry isolation slowly warmed from within by the poetry it has inspired; cloistered one-note ballads rub up against chanty folk hymns and gospel harmonies. A sure bet for fans of M. Ward and the acts mentioned above. Don't miss highlights "Skinny Love," "Blindsided" and the impossibly perfect closer "Re: Stacks."
