Roslyn, Bon Iver

I have known this song for years and have not yet managed to free myself from its intoxicating clutch. I have adored Bon Iver's music for quite some time, ever since I stumbled upon "Holocene," after my brother introduced me to it. A few days ago, I had been pulled back into Justin Vernon's music when I listened to a cover of "Roslyn" by Cullen. "Roslyn" is a beautiful song itself, but is strengthened with its poetry. The composition reminds me of the mountains, tall cliffs over-looking the ocean, the woods, and the calming rain.

The reason why I whole-heartedly love Vernon's songs is because they are so intricately associated with his emotional being. In all its beautiful, incandescent, all-encompassing glory, it bares itself aloud effortlessly. His poems, his songs, are then him in a certain form.

While trying to play "Roslyn" on the violin, and then the pano, I realized that its composition is based on a rotational pattern of simple notes, morphed into more complex tones, as in a combination of Dm and Dm7 rather than Dm or Dm7 individually.

The song sounds mysterious, to begin with. I associate it with the image of early dawn or dusk into the woods. There is an element of elevation and drowning that doesn't sit quite well with mid-day.

The intense, intimate poetry hits the listener at the core of his neurons the instant he begins to pay attention. "Roslyn" is so eerily haunting yet so convincingly beautiful and endearing.