The first thing that strikes you about this record is that every song caresses you, showering your heart with flowers and kisses. Every song has a melody, a lyric or a nagging refrain that lives long in the memory. Every tune is crammed with hooklines, all tight, taut and to the point. The man behind it all, Justin Vernon, is perhaps a cross between Jeff Buckley and White Ladder-era David Gray, only without the self-indulgence. Haunting melodies linger long, staining the back of the throat and burning deep into the gut. This is not, however, to suggest that this is some kind of tract of depression, or descent into hell. Quite the opposite. For Emma, Forever Ago is an uplifting, redeeming and ultimately, very fulfilling record of a man alone with his thoughts and at one with himself.
