Bon Iver : "22 a million"

Not  this projects most avid fan I have had an appreciation for what I have heard. The layered harmony vocals are certainly his thing , this feels more like an intro rather than a song he is fully committed to. Gone are the acoustic guitars and now we have a more Gotye like electronic sheen to what is going on. There is weird fuzz and glitch to "deathbreast".  There is a soulfulness buried in the heart of this robot. On 'Creeks' Justin uses auto-tune to make his voice more like an instrument. This gives it more of a Imogen Heap feel. His light tenor is another part of what he does and the auto-tune doesn't play a large of a role on 'God", but this ultra slick pop production might be a little to over the top to give the songs the sense of honesty that work best with in order to connect with that emotive side.

The acoustic guitar doesn't appear in context you would expect until "29 Strattford Apts". Sonically this song has it moments where a few vocal passages come across well, but the song writing that should hold it together without the studio tricks isn't there. I have no clue why this song is called "666". It reminds me a little of Satchel, which is an improvement, but the effects on the vocals are getting to be a little much. With that said it is still the most solid song up to this point on the album.  There is more atmosphere than song going into "Moonwater". I have heard these types of effect put to much better use on Sigur Rios albums. The song after this one sheds the effects and it makes the vocal performance much more impressive. Justin still picks a ton of poppy r&b intervals to use.

"45" is a minimalist ballad with what sounds to be a little banjo thrown in. Ultra Harmonized vocals sound cool enough, but a disposable song I'll never remember. Suppose the closing song is a title track of sorts and while I like the Simon And Garfunkel touch to the harmonies it feels like it is too little too late. I'll give this album a 6. Sure there is some vocal talent at work, but the production is over bearing and tries to give this more pop sheen than it calls for.