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As anticipation for Bon Iver’s self-titled sophomore release grows, Jagjaguwar released some of the pressure building from anxiety by giving one of its songs to fans for free. After repeated listens to “Calgary,” the album’s eighth track, we can begin to answer some of the things we’ve been wondering about Bon Iver.

The introduction features front man Justin Vernon’s vocals swimming in a sea of not only familiar reverb, but also amongst a dense synth that wasn’t nearly as prominent in For Emma, Forever Ago. We enter into the real body of the song after a minute and fifteen seconds of this, after which the synth track crosses from the right to the left panel and cuts, giving us the first real taste of the difference in production. There’s a definite shift from the intro’s feathery bounds into the body’s heavier, expansive value as well. For Emma never played these sorts of pleasing tricks with us.

The section that follows is driven by a lively African beat, propelling Vernon’s vocal melodies as, in familiar Bon Iver fashion, they take the reigns. Over an inspirational sounding backdrop of keyboards and electronic swells, an echoing snare drum and rhythm guitar add further weight to the song just before it enters its final stage.

After a few guitars and electronic sounds curdle into screams of feedback, the song once again shifts in production. A washy, lightly distorted guitar pairs up with a more straight-forward post-punk drumbeat in the vein of The Editors or Interpol, and Vernon’s vocals take on a new, lighter contortion that sounds as if they’re coming through an old radio that’s been left in the sun too long. The song rides this wave out into its last few moments, which mirror the song’s introduction.

One of the biggest questions fans had was how Bon Iver and Justin Vernon would adapt from being the intimate artist in the woods to being the hugely popular, highly successful recording artist who recently donned the stage with Kanye West at Coachella, and how that adaption would change the music. There’s no doubt, Calgary is different from For Emma. The most obvious differences are in production, which has gotten incomparatively more professional, and is now able to shift the aesthetic of an entire song right in the middle of it. Instrumentation is more flexible as well, as guitars and synths, even drums toy with varied levels of volume and distortion.

There are still some questions left to be answered. Namely, not every song can seemingly take the form of Calgary, one in which a chorus isn’t prominent, rather it delves further and further into one vocal melody to give it strength. We’re left to wonder a little bit about the basic forms of songs that will appear on Bon Iver. All in all though, Calgary is an inspirational joy that accomplishes quite a lot in four minutes’ time, and if it conjures up all these thoughts and questions, it’s certainly done its job as a teaser track.

The downloadable mp3 also includes lyrics within it’s information as found on iTunes. They’re whimsical and seem to be somewhat of a stream of consciousness about a girl. They’re also written without any capitalization or true form of punctuation, so that’s just about everything we’re used to. We’ve copied and pasted them below for your enjoyment.

don’t you cherish me to sleep
never keep your eyelids clipped
hold me for the pops and clicks
I was only for the father’s crib

hair, old, long along
your neck onto your shoulder blades
always keep that message taped
cross your breasts you won’t erase
I was only for your very space

hip, under nothing
propped up by your other one, face ‘way from the sun
just have to keep a dialogue
teach our bodies: haunt the cause
I was only trying to spell a loss

joy, it’s all founded
pincher with the skin inside
you pinned me with your black sphere eyes
you know that all the rope’s untied
I was only for to die beside

so itʼs storming on the lake
little waves our bodies break

there’s a fire going out,
but there’s really nothing to the south

swollen orange and light let through
your one piece swimmer stuck to you

sold, I’m Ever
open ears and open eyes
wake up to your starboard bride
who goes in and then stays inside
oh the demons come, they can subside

- Bon Iver, Calgary

 

- Andy Plank (May 17, 2011)