Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago

Partially recorded at a cabin in the Wisconsin woods, there’s a tangible sense of wintry isolation in songwriter Justin Vernon’s gorgeous debut as Bon Iver. The rawness of For Emma, Forever Ago—often stitched together with little more than Vernon’s layered falsetto, low-fi acoustic guitars, and creaking ambience—gives it a chilling, love-at-first-listen power. And while tracks like “Skinny Love” and the “For Emma” are standalone highlights in their own right, the album’s seamless tour of heartache is greater than the sum of its parts.