Two days ago, music's most popular indie-boy Justin Vernon (a.k.a. Bon Iver) released his music video for Beth/Rest, a song which concluded his 2011 LP release. The song, which has been referred to as "the most divisive song of 2011," has been both criticized and applauded for it's (incidental) homage to 80's instrumentation. However, even with it's drum machine, wailing guitar solos, and dated keyboard washes, the production value and use of auto-tune establishes it as a song that can only be made with modern technology.
Justin Vernon, this guy likes trees, man.
Despite the critiques, Vernon regularly performs the song with full instrumentation in tact. When discussing the song with NPR, Vernon explained ""Beth/Rest" is death, but it's a good death. It's good winter. But it's a rest; it's not this final thing. 'Beth' seems like this really cool name for a place you just go to be in paradise forever." Vernon later continues that the song "just sounds like forever. It's kind of like timeless." Putting in context that he is trying to establish sonically a fictional surreal paradise, his decision to embellish the composition with lush, perhaps almost melodramatic textures seems justified.Referring it to as an homage to another time, however, does not bode well with Vernon. Unprompted, he stated "I don't want it to be some '80s throwback song. I want it to be a current, I-get-lost-in-this song, and I love everything about it. And it has nothing to do any sort of collective social reason."
I enjoyed Bon Iver's second LP, and although I was not particularly in love with it as much as some others, I was one who defended this song from critique. The atmosphere never bothered me, and I always considered an interesting choice. Tossing aside the song as crap simply based on aesthetics never sat well for me. Silently, however, I felt the song lacked momentum, and sat too much on the edge of being a powerful gripping and dynamic composition to have just settled for being a linger-in-the-moment closer. The song always had me left with mixed-feelings.
Bon Iver live at coachella 2012. Kinda does look pretty sick.
This interview kept me with mixed feelings, but in a different way. Once I knew his intent was to create a song that sounded like it was "forever" and "timeless" it made more sense. Further, it was an interesting move to juxta-pose the current auto-tune culture with the 80's synth and guitar, which I thought perpetuated this timeless place by having a sonic landscape that encompassed different cultural periods. However, he completely threw away that notion by rejecting the undeniable retro influence.
Flashforward to 2012, about a year and a half after the LP was released and who knows how long after the song was created, it's evident that Vernon still loves his creation. Not only is it often a closer for his sets, but he just released a music video which he co-directed along with Dan Huiting, whom previously had co-directed the video for Calgary. I'm not sure how much finesse Vernon has directing, but it seems likely to me the video is Vernon's brain-child, with Huiting working the details out and embellishing, bringing it to life.
The video is one that expands on the abstract fictional paradise landscape Vernon referred to in his interview. The imagery, heavily saturated filter, and smooth camera work is like what one might expect from a conclusion to a happy David Lynch film. Quite beautiful shots are somewhat distracted by the quite bizarre content. The film follows a young white-male protagonist in an illuminated white fully body suite exploring the unique world he inhabits with serene familiarity, who keep returning to his lover, who wears the same outfit. The backdrop is a very natural setting, inhabited with wooden cabins, trees and stars that one can walk upto and grab. Out of left field, towards the end of the video, the members of Bon Iver surround the couple playing their instruments to no reaction.
It's like art, or something.
The piece ends with the word "Axiom" illuminated on the wall of this tree-house cabin. Dictionary.com defines this as "a self-evident truth that requires no proof." The couple being the only real center of focus or plot in this video suggests to me that this word is in relation to their relationship, although it is intentionally ambiguous, and I'm sure there's plenty of interpretations to go around.The video all in all seems a little corny to me, in all honesty. Beautiful shots are accompanied by bizarre images that distract from the serenity of the universe Vernon and Huiting have created. To those who know the objective of the song, one can see what Vernon is trying to accomplish. To those who don't, however, it might just leave them going "huh?" and going off to do something else before the halfway mark. Still, it's an interesting and ambitious idea, and it's proudction value is excellent. All in all, I give it 2.5/5 stars.
But what do you think? Let me know in the comments below!
