Familiar imagery of cold weather and private conversations, but this time – Bon Iver (the project of singer-songwriter Justin Vernon) journeys further out of the bitter isolation of For Emma, Forever Ago and moves into different, more defined soundscapes.rnrnThe title track from the EP, makes donating blood seem like the perfect setting for romantic intermissions, and was originally written to go on For Emma; it’s Vernon at his best.rnrnThere is something more hopeful in his voice as “Beach Baby” coos lines like, ‘When you’re out tell your lucky one, To know that you’ll leave. Don’t you lock when you’re fleeing, I’d like not to hear keys.’ Bon Iver has reconciled delicately.rnrnThe piano-riddled “Babys” has a distant quality but it seems sharper and more tuned than anything off For Emma. Thankfully, it ends before it builds too big.rnrnThe final track of “The Woods” explores the varying tones and pitches of Vernon’s vocal range. In fact, the creepy layering and electric alteration comes close to Imogen Heap’s a capella “Hide and Seek” – but with more ambition and a prettier sound. It’s a track that shows off production, maybe because Blood Bank wasn’t recorded in a remote cabin in Wisconsin, which might also be why it seems to hint at something further from frozen despair.
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