Bon Iver is Justin Vernon, and you can pronounce his band name in French if you please. Musically, this seems to me a mild-mannered fusion of Beck and Bibio (indie folk? indie folk), but you'll also like it if you like The National... maybe. Unexpected instrumentation, and a singer who can pull off falsetto and a growl inside the same track. Well-behaved, pretty. Mellow, soft, sweet. Nothing heartbreaking here, but a good rainy day record if there ever was. The fingerpicked guitar on all these cuts is lovely. Also, cool track title scheme.

FCC: 3, 4 (these snuck up on me -- please mark if you find more)
try: 8, 1, 6

*1. (4:22) ~8 sec to start. vibey electric guitar (think new age), soft choir, building snare. slow, falsetto. doubled guitar and vox. basically the same riff over and over, but it's a good riff. fade starts ~20 sec to end, blends to next track.

2. (3:53) nice slight tribal drums under lone electric. low beck-does-soul vox + sax, then fingerpicked banjo, then falsetto, then blow-out funk bass. mellow midtempo, but a lot of instrumental change-ups make it interesting.

3. (5:37) FCC "fucked" fingerpicked guitar over up-bend electric. slowly introduced brushed drums. mild, pretty, sweet.

4. (3:08) FCC "fuck" ha. guitar-only tom petty-esque lead-in -- but layers on falsetto and sax instead of turning into a classic rock song. goes somplace unexpected (violin is involved) in the last minute.

5. (3:46) false start, then doubled vox over slow waltz guitar. cool spare effects. empty and pretty. the token frozen lake track, and a good one.

*6. (2:45) cool reverb keys, low vox, spare, some funk elements (mainly in the vox). sort of sounds like a thunderstorm. this would be great with a techno beat under it. ends with twinkly keys.

7. (4:59) high-reg piano. pretty, spare, quiet, with a slightly disorienting time signature (it's a waltz, but the downbeat moves). some strings. early fade.

*8. (4:10) warm backing synth that sounds like an orchestra. then: padded drums and muffled horns. full drum kit comes in, and the song kicks off for real. electric build, ruder indie vox, and a trajectory you can dig into. short-lived ride, but worth it.

9. (1:33) slow long-held warble strings, bleep effects. sounds just like the sound bed that leads up to the fake bright eyes interview on fevers. no, really.

10. (5:17) oh my. 80s soft rock situation here. slow sax, vibe-effect keys, of-the-era electric. layered and very well produced. it's good, and meant to be dated, but i can't listen to it and not laugh.