| Song | Lyrics | Save | Buy |
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| 1 Husks and Shells |  |
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| 2 Sleepymouth | |
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| 3 Island, Is | |
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| 4 Dote | |
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| 5 And Gather | |
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| 6 Mbira in the Morass | |
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| 7 Cool Knowledge | |
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| 8 Still | |
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| 9 Youlogy | |
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Anyone thinking that Volcano Choir are going to be anything like Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago just because Justin Vernon is involved is in for a bit of a shock. Yes, Vernon's otherworldly vocals grace most of the songs on Unmap, but there are no real songs to speak of, no hushed backwoods folk grandeur or heartbreakingly soulful sounds. Instead, Vernon and his friends from the post-rock band Collections of Colonies of Bees have crafted a defiantly experimental album that relies on Vernon's vocals as just another color in the paint box, not the main focus. The tracks are largely free-floating post-rock jams that drift and flow without great purpose but often sound intensely emotional, as on the driving climax of "Seelpymouth" or the segment of "And Gather" when Vernon's massed vocal overdubs join together in a hurricane of sound. Elsewhere, the group conjures up the dreamy, almost dancy post-shoegaze sound of A.R. Kane (on the album's best -- and most songlike -- song, "Island, Is"), dives headfirst into the kind of atonal modern composition Scott Walker favored in the 2000s on "Mbira in the Morass," and drifts into almost new agey soundscapes on the album-closing "Youlogy." A few tracks aren't miles away from Vernon's work with Bon Iver, especially the opening "Husks and Shells" and "Still," which is basically a rewrite of "Woods" from the Blood Bank EP, using the same vocodered vocals but inserting them into an almost rocking backwoods jam. Unmap won't scare off hardier Bon Iver fans who might find its experiments intriguing enough to get past the lack of songs. It will also please those who were worried that Vernon might be content to just repeat the BI formula until it became clichéd. Despite the occasional flaws, the album shows that Vernon (along with the guys in Collections of Colonies of Bees) has not only the desire to branch out but also the necessary skills.
Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon has been tinkering around over the last couple years with his side project, Volcano Choir, and finally released the album a couple months ago. The album, entitled Unmap, is the work of Vernon and fellow Wisconsin band Collections of Colonies of Bees and was released on Jagjaguwar.It’s definitely a tangential departure [...]
More >
Related posts:Volcano Choir (Bon Iver/Justin Vernon fronted) – Island, Is MP3 Review Volcano Choir as the title suggests is the Jagjaguwar...Hot Panda – Volcano…Bloody Volcano Review Listening to Hot Panda’s debut full-length CD Volcano…Bloody Volcano...
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I recently returned from a three week holiday in Europe (I've always wanted to say that - three years ago I had never been on a plane), and I found Volcano Choir's debut album stuffed between hundreds of Thrillist newsletters, Facebook notifications and "Fwd: fwd: fwd - this is so cute!" messages from my mother. It's been a week or so and I've been dragging my feet hard on this review because, ...
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Whatever your opinion of his music, you have to admire Justin Vernon, a man determined to push boundaries. When his former band, DeYarmond Edison, fell apart several years ago, Vernon removed himself from society and retreated to the woods of Wisconsin, where with some basic recording equipment, guitars, and very little else he managed to create one of the best albums of 2007 (or 2008 if you co...
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Mixing experimental Wisconsinites Collections Of Colonies Of Bees with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, Volcano Choir was a quietly announced collaboration who have swiftly created this, their wonderfully confused debut filled with equal parts brilliance and disappointment. Let us start with the brilliance: It's so refreshing to hear Vernon outside of his Bon Iver persona.
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Perhaps it'll never earn For Emma's unrivaled reputation as being music to hang your hearts and dreams upon, but Unmap is a dynamic batch of aural wilderness to get lost in.The term "folk" has become such an anomaly in today's underground music scene -- a label applied with so much gusto and baggage in the latter half of our decade and having lost so much of its original definition -- that thes...
More >
Justin Vernon made fans out of thousands of bloggers and indie hipsters with Bon Iver`s For Emma, Forever Ago. He`s back to try to spin some new magic, this time with members of Collections Of Colonies Of Bees, with the forthcoming album (out Sept. 22nd) Unmap as Volcano Choir.I know this makes me an outcast, but I didn't think the Bon Iver record deserved the praise it received. I found the
More >
Surprise! Volcano Choir is nothing like I envisioned when first hearing about the new collaboration between Justin Vernon of Bon Iver and Collection of Colonies of Bees.While I can't say specifically what I was figuring Volcano Choir's debut, Unmap, to sound like, I can safely say it wasn't what I just heard. Unmap is a very ethereal album, full of spacey audiology and very subdued vocals. Some...
More >
Volcano Choir is the new side project of Bon Iver man Justin Vernon. He joined forces with instrumental rock band Collections of Colonies of Bees in order to create Volcano Choir and their first album Unmap.Here is the first single from Volcano Choir, titled “Island, Is”. Collections Of colonies Of Bees lay down a dreamy [...]
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Volcano Choir is a collaboration between Justin Vernon of Bon Iver and the Milwaukee band Collections of Colonies of Bees. They began recording songs before Bon Iver's breakout For Emma, Forever Ago was mixed and mastered, and now, more than three years in the making, their album Unmap will see release via Jagjaguwar.Vernon has credited the Volcano Choir collaboration with inspiring in him the...
More >
Surprise! Volcano Choir is nothing like I envisioned when first hearing about the new collaboration between Justin Vernon of Bon Iver and Collection of Colonies of Bees.While I can't say specifically what I was figuring Volcano Choir's debut, Unmap, to sound like, I can safely say it wasn't what I just heard. Unmap is a very ethereal album, full of spacey audiology and very subdued vocals. Some...
More >
Justin Vernon made fans out of thousands of bloggers and indie hipsters with Bon Iver`s For Emma, Forever Ago. He`s back to try to spin some new magic, this time with members of Collections Of Colonies Of Bees, with the forthcoming album (out Sept. 22nd) Unmap as Volcano Choir.I know this makes me an outcast, but I didn't think the Bon Iver record deserved the praise it received. I found the
More >
Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon has been tinkering around over the last couple years with his side project, Volcano Choir, and finally released the album a couple months ago. The album, entitled Unmap, is the work of Vernon and fellow Wisconsin band Collections of Colonies of Bees and was released on Jagjaguwar.It’s definitely a tangential departure [...]
More >
Perhaps it'll never earn For Emma's unrivaled reputation as being music to hang your hearts and dreams upon, but Unmap is a dynamic batch of aural wilderness to get lost in.The term "folk" has become such an anomaly in today's underground music scene -- a label applied with so much gusto and baggage in the latter half of our decade and having lost so much of its original definition -- that thes...
More >
Volcano Choir is the collaboration between Justin Vernon aka Bon Iver and fellow Wisconsin group Collections of Colonies Bees. The Wisconsin super group just released the first mp3 from their forthcoming debut album Unmap, which is out September 22nd from Jagjaguwar. Personally, I'm very excited for any new material from Justin Vernon and can say that after a couple of listens to this new trac...
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Volcano Choir is a collaboration between Justin Vernon of Bon Iver and the Milwaukee band Collections of Colonies of Bees. They began recording songs before Bon Iver's breakout For Emma, Forever Ago was mixed and mastered, and now, more than three years in the making, their album Unmap will see release via Jagjaguwar.Vernon has credited the Volcano Choir collaboration with inspiring in him the...
More >
definitely not what i was expecting after hearing the first song off of unmap but nevertheless great. i’m learning to appreciate vernon’s angelic gospel choir croon with every listen. stream “youlogy” aboveUnmap is due out 9/22
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Volcano Choir - Island, IS A long Sunday of hipping and hopping and working at Rock the Bells SF and a Monday of yawning set me back and left me... (Visit my blog for more!)
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Volcano ChoirA collaboration between Milwaukee, Wisconsin's Collections of Colonies of Bees and fellow Wisconsinite Justin Vernon, Volcano Choir's earliest beginnings go back to 2005, long before Vernon's sudden rise to fame as the frontman for Bon Iver. "Islands, IS" is the first track to made available from Volcano Choir's forthcoming debut album Unmap which hits stores on September 22nd via...
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Bon Iver is known to be all artistic and awesome and junk, and so an artistic side project would of course be the way to go, right? Right. That’s exactly right. Volcano Choir is made of Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and Chicago’s own Collections of Colonies of Bees. The material was recorded before Bon Iver’s [...]
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Back in late June, we confirmed HERE that Bon Iver aka Justin Vernon was teaming up with Collections Of Colonies Of Bees to form a new project titled Volcano Choir. The debut album Unmap is due on September 22nd via Jagjaguwar and just recently, a new track has been made available through the label themselves.
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Related posts:Volcano Choir (Bon Iver/Justin Vernon fronted) – Island, Is MP3 Review Volcano Choir as the title suggests is the Jagjaguwar...Hot Panda – Volcano…Bloody Volcano Review Listening to Hot Panda’s debut full-length CD Volcano…Bloody Volcano...
More >
I recently returned from a three week holiday in Europe (I've always wanted to say that - three years ago I had never been on a plane), and I found Volcano Choir's debut album stuffed between hundreds of Thrillist newsletters, Facebook notifications and "Fwd: fwd: fwd - this is so cute!" messages from my mother. It's been a week or so and I've been dragging my feet hard on this review because, ...
More >
8Damn.Volcano Choir’s Unmap is more a listening experience than a pop record. Justin Vernon and Collections of Colonies of Bees’ odd and unexpected collaboration comes at the height of Bon Iver’s success (shortly before the band announced an indefinite hiatus), and is a complete change of direction from the melodic, acoustic ballads of his previous [...]
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 "Unmap")
