Opener Perth wells up out of the ground like a sonic volcano; it marches along effortlessly and swamps anything in its path. It saturated my attention, even at low volumes (damn late night listening sessions with paper thin apartment walls!!), and was quite overwhelming. There is magical music here – oft chill-inducing and certainly not the kinda stuff one can easily digest in just a few listens. I did have a rough time with the incredibly layered vocals that span the recording. My housemate described it as saccharine and he nailed it. The album is 40 minutes long and it begins to feel like your sensibilities get caramelized after perhaps the fourth track. Dunno about you but I cannot take that much sweetness in one sitting. In time I could only listen to a track or two at a time and in this fashion, one can yield to Bon Iver’s divine meandering dream-like movements without feeling gorged. As a body of work though, I simply couldn’t see it as a cohesive entity due to the treacle-effect.
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