Unbest

Dylan Kight on Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago (2008)
(iTunes, Rdio, Spotify)

I discovered For Emma, Forever Ago in July of 2011. I had heard of Bon Iver on numerous occasions, but didn’t go seek the record out. I was in California. More specifically the bay area. My wife left me while I was on the second day of this trip. She was at home in Atlanta. I was out west. I was blindsided. I couldn’t place anything, or explain why it was happening. 

I bought this record on iTunes. On my first weekend in California I went to Big Sur. I played this record as I tried to make sense of what had just happened. Then two weeks after she left me my dad died unexpectedly. I played this record over and over again. After I found out. When I took the red eye home to be there for his funeral. As I traveled to south Georgia to be at the viewing. As I left the small town of Eastman, Ga., where he was buried. Then the days after I got home. If it had been vinyl, I would have worn it out.

This record helped me during the most painful, confusing and real moment of my life. I was alone, but I had this record. Which is why I love records. I can go back to every defining moment of my life, and remember the record that helped me through it.

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