Bon Iver - Skinny Love [Live Video]

A great video of Bon Iver performing Skinny Love on the Jools Holland Show.

Bon Iver on Daytrotter and Wisconsin, B-Side from iTunes

For the life of me, I can't figure out why I didn't post this right when it came out. Thankfully, the tracks are still available: Bon Iver did an interview and recorded four live tracks-Flume, Lump Sum, Re:Stacks, and Creature Fear-over at Daytrotter. Two of them, Flume and Lump Sum, are two of the most ingeniously transformed, hauntingly beautiful recordings I've ever heard. I'm not exaggerating; these are powerful, entirely engrossing pieces of music. I listened to them shortly after my girlfriend and I broke up, and I couldn't get enough of them. I have this vivid memory of when I was on a plane to Boston, slightly freezing, listening to the slowly-moving, slightly airy, reverb-soaked Lump Sum, watching the sun set and its orange light reflecting on shifting lakes and the sheds of farms. Testament to the emotional impact of these songs, like the rest of his album, at least.

Also check out an exclusive bonus track he did for iTunes off his debut release. It's called Wisconsin, and it's incredible. Definitely one of my favorite songs by Vernon, this song sucks me in like no other song can right now-especially at night, in bed, headphones on, nothing to distract. But it doesn't fit with the rest of the album: with an echoed electric guitar only, the sound is pretty different. If you're into Bon Iver and you bought his album, this is a must-download.

...and, because this is his only song with unpublished lyrics, there seems to be a quest online to figure out what they really are. Here's the best I've come up with so far, not entirely there yet, but working on it; these are the most accurate I've found on the internet, but still let me know if you have any suggestions.

You're right in the park and you’re peeking
Piss pools in your seat
She’s standing inside but you surely repeat
Oh, God don’t leave me here
I will freeze to the leave
Love is love's reprieve

Winter is calm and you’re stuck in
All your summer shoes
Now when the wind blows you cover your tooth
And out to the shed where you trade in your blues
Love is love's sad news

That was Wisconsin, that was yesterday
Now I have nothing that I can keep
Cause every place I go I take another place with me
Love is love's mystique

You’re up on the bar and you're shaking
With every grimy word
Who will they love,
What’s love when you’ve hurt
You wonder as you see the snow kiss the curb
Love is love's return

That was Wisconsin, that was yesterday
Now I have nothing that I can keep
Cause every place I go I take another place with me
Love is love's critique