All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Delusions of Adequacy

It’s seamless in its construction, poetic in its songwriting and moving in its aesthetic impression.

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100

Uncut

For Emma, Forever Ago is such a hermetically sealed, complete and satisfying album, the prospect of a follow-up--of a life for Vernon beyond the wilderness, even - seems merely extraneous.

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100

musicOMH.com

It's rare to be so gushing about a debut album--yet after living with this album for a few weeks, you'll be hard pressed to find any flaws.

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100

Observer Music Monthly

For Emma, though only nine tracks long, is as beautiful, bleak and intimate as anything 2008 is likely to throw up.

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100

Mojo

Isolation doesn't get more splendid than this. [June 2008, p.100]

The Onion (A.V. Club)

Wisconsin singer-songwriter Justin Vernon, who records as Bon Iver (a bastardized version of the French phrase for "good winter"), still manages to put his own stamp on a moribund genre with his quietly startling debut, For Emma, Forever Ago.

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Drowned In Sound

This album is simply wondrous.

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No Ripcord

Although For Emma, Forever Ago works best as a concise listen, as each song segues naturally into the next, tracks like 'Blindsided' and 'For Emma' quickly rise as shining standouts.

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Austin Chronicle

For Emma is a paradigm of uninhibited closure, a gentle touch on a sad day.

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Pitchfork

Vernon gives a soulful performance full of intuitive swells and fades, his phrasing and pronunciation making his voice as much a purely sonic instrument as his guitar.

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NOW Magazine

As good as it is, it’s clear that Vernon still has room to grow. A few songs could have used a little extra instrumental kick, and while his songs are great, you can tell he has more to offer. Keep an eye on this one.

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Hartford Courant

His double-tracked voice makes these songs truly mesmerizing.

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Village Voice

While none of Bon Iver's background notes scream "new"--dissolved love affair, check; band breaks up (Vernon's freak-jug outfit, DeYarmond Edison), check--the chilling, rusty grandeur of For Emma will stop you in your snow tracks, however little it snows around here.

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All Music Guide

For Emma captures the sound of broken and quiet isolation, wraps it in a beautiful package, and delivers it to your door with a beating, bruised heart.

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Prefix Magazine

The strength is in Vernon’s ability to make a quiet, lonely album that is not boring.

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Spin

Vernon's voice--delicately layered and yearning--gives standouts 'Skinny Love' and 'Flume' their stunningly direct emotional impact, but his sturdy folk cords, earthy melodies, and plainspoken, pastoral lyrics prevent the album from descending into self-pity. [Mar 2008, p.97]

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Dusted Magazine

Vernon’s voice is the showpiece here––a fragile, technically imperfect falsetto, he multi-tracks it into a shimmering, heat-giving force on each of the record’s nine songs.

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Sputnikmusic

For Emma, Forever Ago is a heartbreaking and heartwarming album that ventures deeper than the its simple history could predict.

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Tiny Mix Tapes

The most subtle incorporation of drum machines, horns, and vocal effects transforms Bon Iver’s music from the quiet afterthought that characterizes much of today’s indie-folk into a sonic landscape of moods and nuances.

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Q Magazine

This remarkable album's impact resides in its sound; the lyrics, when they can be deciphered, are standard she-left-me stuff. [June 2008, p.147]

Under The Radar

For all its apparent weightlessness, this is one heavy debut. [Winter 2008, p.80]

Paste Magazine

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cokemachineglow

A sure-footed assertion of the artist's individual talents and landing it a spot among the best folk records of 2007 has to offer.

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Stylus Magazine

Vernon’s music is stripped-down, uniformly quiet, and confessional, his clipped, cracked, Will Oldham-inspired lyrics not evidence of cabin delirium, but the work of an artist warmed by a creative glow that only pure isolation (read: freedom) can fully render.

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PopMatters

Bon Iver defiantly makes a small-scale statement on For Emma, Forever Ago, so much that if you don’t concentrate, you’ll pass this over.

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Hot Press

This writer is a firm believer that every album you pick up should be a universally accessible experience. Solitude, sanctuary and silence spawn an exorcism of sorts.

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MSN Consumer Guide (Robert Christgau)

The turns of phrase are usually cul-de-sacs, the flights into obscurity have bum wings, and do you really prefer, for instance, Vernon's best-in-show "Now all your love is wasted?/Then who the hell was I?" (much less "Only love is all maroon/Lapping lakes like leery loons") to this Creeley ordinaire

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 9.3 (out of 10) based on 129 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Scott W gave it a10:
Its Wounder an album like this is made today. Art, folk rock at a finest level. Never wavers nor falls short. Just bleeds all the way through to the end.

David S gave it a10:
WOW! I am an avid music lover and rarely come across a musician who leaves me speechless. Reviews suggesting this is a "good" sophomore effort, but could have been better leave me dumbfounded! The lyrics, singing, and phrasing are simply amazing. Note one album in the recent past the has so much emotional intensity and intense lyricism! Bon Iver is the "real deal" and I only hope he continues to produce such amazing and beautiful songs. Absolutely fantastic!

Hayro C gave it a5:
The album is good, but some songs are boring.

scott a. gave it a10:
For Emma, Forever Ago perfectly captures the feelings of both the cold and warmth of a long winter. I have played this album non-stop since I discovered it over the summer. Overall one of my all-time favorite records.

wim k. gave it a10:
Great, fantastic. Great, gloomy and genious!

Aniruddha B. gave it a9:
Beautiful album. Justin Vernon's voice is so intimate... yet so intense... the best of the year for me along with portishead's third.

Paul B. gave it a10:
Best album of 2008. The Vinyl interprets the space of the cabin in a way the CD just can't. But in any medium this is a record worth hearing. The live shows with Wilco were outstanding.

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