Bon Iver : Blood Bank :: Review
Consider this review the first of the inevitable Bon Iver backlash. Bon Iver (Justin Vernon) had a fine debut last year but he has taken that sound, watered it down for mass consumption and released an EP (Blood Bank) that is an unholy mixture of Coldplay and Kanye West. I’m sure it will sell a shitload of copies, but there’s no accounting for taste.
The first track on this abomination is “Blood Bank” which sounds like a b-side that Coldplay discarded. It’s not the absolute worst thing on this EP, “Woods” and “Babys” are equally bad, but it signals a huge misfire on Justin Vernon’s part. “Beach Baby” takes what worked well on “For Emma Forever Ago” and repeats the same formula. I guess if it’s not broke, why fix it? I’ll give Vernon credit; he did add a tasteful slide guitar solo towards the end of the track.
“Babys” is simply monotonous from its piano intro that sounds like it was ripped off from a 3rd grade practice session to its falsetto vocals. When I heard the closer “Woods,” I wanted to laugh and then I thought, “What the fuck is this mess?” This song is completely awful auto-tuned bullshit, and it is painful. If you’re into throwing money straight in the toilet, then give ‘Blood Bank’ a shot.
If you want to check out the title track, and think I’m being too sensitive, you can stream it below.
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