Bon Iver – Blood Bank EP Music CD

Review

When Bon Iver's Blood Bank was released in 2009, it offered signs of where Justin Vernon might head after his breakout debut For Emma, Forever Ago established him as a guy with a guitar and a powerful falsetto singing sad songs. Now being rereleased with an expanded (and belated) 10th Anniversary Edition that features live versions of each of the EP's four songs, Blood Bank looks more like a bridge between what Bon Iver was and the expansive, exploratory band it has become. Though the title track was written during the For Emma sessions, Vernon said it didn't fit and decided to leave it off. In retrospect, the slowly swelling guitars and fuller sound offered hints toward 2011's Bon Iver. But it's the Auto-Tuned, a capella closing track "Woods" that feels like a blueprint for the kind of sounds Vernon would experiment with on 2016's 22, A Million and last year's i, i. It also proved to be the track that would change Vernon's career in ways he couldn't have imagined. Kanye West sampled "Woods" for "Lost in the World" from his 2010 album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and the rapper invited Vernon to collaborate on other songs (including "Monster"), catapulting Vernon into the pop culture consciousness— and feeding the musician's thirst for experimentation. The new live versions, all recorded in 2018, showcase Vernon's ever-evolving big band, which turns "Blood Bank" into an even more powerful slowburn build. The sparse, acoustic "Beach Baby" gets fleshed out with mournful horns and piano. "Babys," built around a repeating piano part, also benefits from horns in the live setting, giving the track a jazzy vibe the original lacked. "Woods," oddly enough, most resembles the original, though Vernon finds more power in his voice in this recording, looping, bending and stretching his vocal—a commanding performance from one of indie-rock's brightest stars.

— Rudi Greenberg, Relix

Product Details

Bon Iver's Blood Bank EP was originally released in early 2009, hot on the heels of the beloved album 'For Emma, Forever Ago'. The EP was a harbinger of a new sound for Bon Iver: a movement away from the acoustic guitar-led instrumentation of the debut and the beginning of an exploration into the experimental sounds that have evolved but defined Bon Iver ever since. The reissue of this seminal EP is coupled with brand new live renditions of all the EP tracks: A reflection on the Blood Bank EP by Ryan Matteson: When I reflect on the songs that make up the Blood Bank EP, I am drawn to mantras, both musical and lyrical. The driving and pulsating rhythm of the title track is held steady by the repeated refrain, I know it well, before it eventually yields to a beautiful array of guitar distortion and noise. These moments are significant through all four songs. When the steel guitar makes it's entrance on "Beach Baby," it's transportive. A blissful, breezy feeling sweeps into the room and that puts you within the moment. Close your eyes and you can feel it. "Babys" follows perfectly. A piano guides your mind to the new beginnings that come with the changing of seasons. The awareness of time passes and makes way for another day. Then there's "Woods." A flawless finale. Foreign and new. Not just a new direction but a new beginning entirely. A place where boundaries don't exist. It was a signal change of things to come, laying the groundwork for new collaborations. A decade later, the song says so much in just three lines. Most significant to me are the words, "I'm building a sill to slow down the time." Time doesn't slow down, it races.