Continuing with my series of posts on music, I am going to talk about an artist in which I only wish I would have discovered before. I had always heard about them, but until I heard them mentioned again on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon last night, I had to check them out. The artist they mentioned- Bon Iver. I proceeded to get out my laptop and start researching this guy at 2 am which I had heard so much about but never really listened to. Over the next hour, I really took in his back story and what caused him to create his first album- For Emma, Forever Ago. For those who aren't familiar, let me sum it up for you. After a troubling time in his life in which he went through a broken relationship, band, and dealing with mononucleosis, he decided to up and move to his father's cabin in the northern woods of Wisconsin for 3 long months. It is exactly this isolation that helped him get through his troubles and developed his first record, even though he was never planning to make any music. Incidentally, he had with him some basic recording equipment when he had moved there and just starting recording music. In an interview later he said, "All of his personal trouble, lack of perspective, heartache, longing, love, loss and guilt that had been stock piled over the course of the past six years, was suddenly purged into the form of song." I personally think that the result is absolutely stunning for reasons that speak directly to my soul. Over the course of history, isolation is one thing that has had such a profound impact on so many artists, and this is another perfect example.  This same album would not been nearly as good if he had planned it and if he hadn't isolated himself from the rest of the world. I can safely say that there will never be another album like it, because it was created under such authentically heartfelt circumstances. It is artwork like this that I really and truly respect. That which comes without intention and without planning, but just flows from the soul and the hearts emotion.