Reading through Pitchfork.com's top 50 album list for 2011 is a little less than inspiring. The best record of the year according to Pitchfork, indie music's most influential arbitrator of what is good and what isn't, is Bon Iver's Bon Iver. Yes, when I first heard this music I thought something entirely new had been created by angels and was being sent down to us in the form of Justin Vernon's, the lead singer and main guy in Bon Iver, high-pitched (is that what you call it, high-pitched?) voice. In the song "Holocene", he sings "And I can see for miles and miles and miles" It's undeniably beautiful. But the album only has two really good songs, in my opinion. This judgement after a lot of time to digest the record. And only Holocene is truly a savior of a song. A god imposter, drifting down to give my life a new layer of meaning, as some songs do. Later (and earlier) in Holocene Justin Vernon sings, "And at once I knew, I was not magnificent." I think he's right, sadly. The music he creates is beautiful. But the album, chosen as the best of 2011 by Pitchfork.com, is not magnificent.
with love and appreciation for Bon Iver and all the other music from 2011,
Anthony
Holocene
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