Repave
Like many musicians of his age, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon isn\'t content with working solely on his day job; he spends just as much time on his side project. In Vernon’s case it’s with members of the post-rock groups All Tiny Creatures and Collection of Colonies of Bees. They come together as Volcano Choir, and the group\'s second album, *Repave*, shows discipline and intensity only hinted at on its casual debut, *Unmap*. “Alaskans” mutates from sounding like a lovelorn Barry White into a self-referential minor rock star during a spacey, acoustic ballad where the instrumentation appears to loop around a few piano and guitar riffs until it floats away. “Dancepack” sounds like the group decoding its own version of The Arcade Fire and its visions of grandiosity. Modern arena rock sounds pop up throughout, and Vernon’s singing veers from mock falsettos (“Keel”) to whiny, soul-demanding shouts and serious, spoken moments. Unlike arena rock bands of previous generations, there are no choruses that demand the spotlight and no rousing beats to organize the troops. This is art-rock for the experimental crowd.
It’s been four years since the first Volcano Choir album, 'Unmap', provided a glimpse into the collaborative mindset between a singer and a band that inspired him. Ideas were minted, written at a distance and realized in the studio; edges sanded back and flaps tucked in, the craftsmanship of the endeavor bearing evidence of the craft itself, and the technology used to assemble it. 'Unmap' strove to find strands of life between the ones and zeroes - a carefully constructive narrative that showed the listener through its darkest passages like a tour guide leading their wards through a cave, with nothing but a slack length of rope and the senses of sound and touch. Just as importantly, it brought these people together, setting an expectation: be your own band. Achieve transference. Learn how to play these songs in the live setting. Tour Japan. Do some dates in America. Pull the life from the record and share it with tiny segments of the world. 'Repave' brings Volcano Choir into sharp focus. The glitch-laden, cautious presentation of the band’s previous work serves as points of both reference and departure across these eight songs, the product of growing conviction and trust, of a fully-operational rock band, gifted in shading and nuance, and rumbling with power. It’s the sound of the creative process as it evolves and ultimately explodes, the seamless interleaving of electronic and acoustic/amplified instruments, multithreaded with the timbre and technology of the human voice as it enters and exits the equation. Moreover, Repave is the sound of confident musicians extending their reach to anthemic peaks and pulling back to reveal moments of real vulnerability, sure enough of themselves to let them stand on their own. If 'Repave' reminds you of other kinds of records from the past decade or so, it’s done so on the bonds between the members of Volcano Choir, how their friendships were fortified over the years-long process of writing and recording these songs. There is an openness to this work that won’t be taken for granted – real, moving tales of change, sadness, loss and truth grace the wordplay of these tracks, an account of life between the fringes of poetry and reality. With each verse you can sense that someone, somewhere is listening to this music and getting stronger, feeling better, learning to open up their soul. Volcano Choir is Jon Mueller, Chris Rosenau, Matthew Skemp, Daniel Spack, Justin Vernon and Thomas Wincek.
Volcano Choir is Bon Iver's Justin Vernon with Wisconsin experimental post-rock outfits Collections of Colonies of Bees and All Tiny Creatures. On their second LP Repave, the sextet have created a grandiose record featuring arena-rock ambitions and ostentatious beauty.
Justin Vernon’s cabin-in-the-woods origin story may have been relatively novel in its day, but the way in which he’s handled his subsequent success has been decidedly retro. Music-biz gripes, hints at mothballing the Grammy-winning Bon Iver, and the formation of no-fuss blues-rock outfit The Shouting Matches seem to…
Justin Vernon seems to have finally figured out just what a special thing he has with Volcano Choir, but thrillingly, they're a band still unaware of where it's going to take them next.
Emerging in For Emma…’s slipstream, Volcano Choir’s 2009 debut couldn’t help but be framed in relation to Justin Vernon’s other creative outlet. With its prominent electronics and poppier bent, Unmap was received in some quarters as Vernon’s Give Up, but any comparisons with the Death Cab/Postal Service dyad must surely expire with the arrival of Repave. Not only does Volcano Choir’s recorded output now match Bon Iver two-for-two, but the quality and clarity of these eight tracks makes it difficult to justify its relegation to the status of junior partner.
Prior to this record, the recorded output of Volcano Choir-the collaboration between Collections of Colonies of Bees and fellow Wisconsinite and Bon Iver mastermind Justin Vernon-has consisted of just one record: 2009's Unmap.
An abstract and occasionally disjointed album that ultimately finds a rewarding balance, both sonically and lyrically, between the obscure and the deeply personal.
One can accuse Justin Vernon of many things, but being devoid of a sense of humor isn’t one of them.