Volcano Choir - Unmap

After the extraordinary debut that he had with "For Emma, Forever Ago", a magnific album and certainly some of the best that came out last year, it seems like Justin Vernon, best known as Bon Iver, is avoiding to take the final step to record the dreaded "second album": earlier this year he recorded "Blood Bank" a 4 tracks EP; then participated with a couple of songs in the Red Hot compilation "Dark Was The Night"; now, resuming a pre-Bon Iver project, he meets again Wisconsinites pals Collections Of Bees to create Volcano Choir and release their first album. Those who expect to find in this new work of Vernon something like "For Emma, Forever Ago" will be disappointed. While "Husks and Shells", "Island, IS" and "Seeplymouth" opens the album in a hopefully way, from the fourth theme everything becomes blurred and the record takes an experimental turn, as if Vernon will continue what he began with "Woods", the final track of "Blood Bank", and which on this record includes a new version now named "Still". From this point "Unmap" takes place with a quiet and relaxed sound with Vernon talking rather than singing, accompanied by evocative chorus, incidental noises and some kind of instrumental minimalism (sometimes just the drums, sometimes just with an atmospheric organ) that makes the music sound scattered and at times a little bit tedious. "Unmap" is not exactly an electrifying album, it takes patience and some zeal for Vernon to take away all that pretentious packaging that it comes wrapped in and enjoy it. Maybe that's the way it should be. After all is not a Bon Iver album. Is a Volcano Choir album. -CORANNIEIT-

Volcano Choir, Unmap
Jagjaguwar, 2009

Links:
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