Volcano Choir - Unamped

I was really excited to be seeing a new album coming from Justin Vernon, the falsetto master of Bon Iver's For Emma for Ever Ago, and also being from good ol' WI was a plus too, because it gives kids like me hopes. High Hopes, them apple pie hopes. I had to listen to Unamped around 5 times before I could really write to you about it, and if you've listened to it as well, I hope you've put the much needed time into it, too. The first time I really gave it some attention, I was driving through some mountains strung out on some day time medicine, not the best time to be "digging" a new album, but when I drive I really listen. What ever. All I could think about was cartoons performing lewd acts in dark alley ways, and I liked it. But was also disturbed, quasi disturbed. And I was pretty sure that there was only really one song on the album as well, ISland I believe; the other "songs" mainly seemed, to me, like soundtrack music, but I love soundtrack music, and if you do too, another good listen is Omar Rodriguez-Lopez' A Manual Dexterity: Soundtrack Vol. One, but anyways, if you're going into this thing looking for this album and group to sound anything like Bon Iver, you'll be disappointed, but isn't that what a good artist is meant to do?Not to disappoint, but to switch it up? Take the Beatles, for example, many of their albums didn't "go" with their previous ones, they kept things a-changing. And granted this is a different group, I believe they are going in the right direction. The other four or so times I listened to it, I found myself enjoying it more and more. I won't lie, I had mixed feelings for this at first, but that's why you have to listen to it a couple times, because I did go into it thinking it might come out a little something like For Emma... and although it didn't, I grew to like the album as something almost entirely different. I guess what I'm really trying to say is listen to it! And if you've already done so, listen to it some more. I now kill zombies to this album, and I'd like to think it helps me perform better, but you be the judge of my zombie slaying skills.