Influence: Bon Iver – For Emma Forever Ago

How was I introduced to this album?

It was 2008 and I was still taking night classes at University of Ottawa to get a degree in Communications. The majority of my classes consisted of students ten years my junior but they didn’t realize their was a thirty year old amongst them.

One evening I heard some guys raving about some new music and so I wrote a few albums down and one of them was by someone called Bon Iver.

Why is this album influential?

In 2008 I was already well past a decade of loving all things music related and I really didn’t have much time to check out new music. As in, I was Old Man Palmer not allowing new things to enter into my brain.

This album challenged me. I remember a lot of days and nights doing schoolwork and putting this album on and just not understanding it. But I was wise enough to realize that sometimes an album needs quite a few listens to unlock its mysteries and become one of my favourites.

It eventually did open up to me and I fell in love with this entire album. This album taught me I should open myself to new music and see where it takes me instead of putting up walls saying “If it’s not from before the year 2000, then I’m not really interested.”

What do I love about this album?

Once again, this entire album captures an emotion for me. It’s a pretty somber album, perfect for those cold winter days where it’s -40 outside.