Current obsessions: The best of all possible Flumes

How embarrassing, it was, to find about about Bon Iver in the spring of 2008, when in fact the record had been available for swooning over since the previous October. Both embarrassing in the sense of non-currency--the obtuse looking-over of a modern chestnut of an album in the internet age (where was my Twitter feed?!)--but moreso unfortunate that I had missed the debut of a categorical winter album during its flagship season.

I suppose you're technically allowed to play For Emma during non-winter seasons. You can also mull some summertime spicy-hot wine, or toss a handful of ice into a lager in a country other than Thailand if you really want to (actually, ice in light beer really is a good idea, but it has got to be stinking hot outside). But no, if people still shopped at A&B et al, I would like to think that Bon Iver's LP would have a sticker advising best results if played indoors in the proximity of at least one sizable window displaying a grey landscape, with an outside temperature absolutely no warmer than 3 degrees. That is, after all, how the album was made.

So there's a silver lining to being back in wonder winterland before the crocuses start getting drunk and making out: I'm still within the sweet spot for Contemplation With Winter Albums (did I mention I've been without music for months?). I had the opportunity to introduce the album for a great friend during some less-than-great times (come to think of it, it was during the summer, but the mood was not warm), and the choice of music turned out to be the right sort of medicine for us both. "That's fucking perfect," said my friend, and I believe not long thereafter he caught Bon Iver live, and quite recently bought the discography, such as it is (keep locking yourself in cabins and dishing records out, Justin Verner!).

In a time where album openers have perhaps lost a great deal of their relevancy, Flume is nonetheless a captivating start to what is to follow. And I would suggest that, unlike other vocal-sandwich-production lovers such as Beirut (who are fantastic live, but one does really hope against all odds for a group of wailing Zach Condon clones backing onstage), it sounds even better without multiple vocals stacked aloft. I guess I've come to expect that debut records with heavily cooked vocals (thanks Garageband!) probably have employed the cooking strategically, ie. the raw vox just aren't that good. However this is far from always the case. Cf Bon Iver at the beginning of this live take of Flume at MOKB/WEEM in Pendleton, Indiana--the best version I've heard.

"Flume (live in the MOKB/WEEM studio 4/4/08)"
Bon Iver