Have to agree with jewdiful on this one... people are really getting hung up on the 80's styles used on Beth/Rest. TRUE, the 80's were a really schmaltzy musical period, especially when this sound was coloring most music coming out of that era, and most anything you were exposed to had to go through the filter of the corporate music machine. BUT- I'm sometimes surprised when I hear a track come on the radio by, say, Bruce Hornsby, at how much raw talent lay below all those overproduced layers of musical polish. To Quote the band Metric here, I think what Bon Iver is doing here is in a way playing this song "campfire style" to see if it holds up without the perfect musical backdrop. Most do that by just playing a song unplugged- Bon Iver is doing the opposite by covering it in those schmaltzy 80's sounds that still obviously make most of us cringe, and seeing if the sheer beauty and strength of the song shines through. I personally think it does. It's a powerhouse.
Have to agree with jewdiful on this one... people are really getting hung up on the 80's styles used on Beth/Rest. TRUE, the 80's were a really schmaltzy musical period, especially when this sound was coloring most music coming out of that era, and most anything you were exposed to had to go through the filter of the corporate music machine. BUT- I'm sometimes surprised when I hear a track come on the radio by, say, Bruce Hornsby, at how much raw talent lay below all those overproduced layers of musical polish. To Quote the band Metric here, I think what Bon Iver is doing here is in a way playing this song "campfire style" to see if it holds up without the perfect musical backdrop. Most do that by just playing a song unplugged- Bon Iver is doing the opposite by covering it in those schmaltzy 80's sounds that still obviously make most of us cringe, and seeing if the sheer beauty and strength of the song shines through. I personally think it does. It's a powerhouse.