Album Review: Volcano Choir - Repave

Justin Vernon doesn't know when to quit. Not content with conquering the world under his Bon Iver nom de plume, Vernon has flirted with soft-rock grooves (Gayngs) and R&B schmooze (Kanye West cameos), as well as pitching in with other artists both in front of and behind the scenes. Yet the itch to take the reins has kicked in, and the result is another band, Volcano Choir.

Repave is actually a follow-up to 2009's debut Unmap, yet will serve as the first taste of the band for many – and what a smorgasbord it is; Vernon's lyricism has reached a personal high watermark, and the amount of time the band have spent honing their own aesthetic provides the perfect foundations for Vernon to soar.

Opener Tiderays uses a swirling organ to bleed on the sonic canvas, a broken hymnal, before fingerpicked guitar joins Vernon's falsetto to provide a bedrock of beatific platitudes. Yet the track builds incrementally, a sonic swelling of the breast, and the power that lays within effectively sets Volcano Choir on high seas. Acetate sails even more, Vernon trading highs for baritone lows on a spacious track that starts small before the echoed vocals of band members coalesces like the crashing wave on the cover.

Vernon plays with form, utilising Auto-Tune with shimmering eclecticism on Cmrade; rocking a cavernous outro on Byegone, his voice ragged and torn. Electronic pulses feed throughout, and as the staccato beat of closer Almanac smashes the glass ceiling of expectations, it's bluntly apparent that Repave stands tall.