Volcano Choir – Repave (Jagjaguwar)
A rose by any other name is still a rose, and Bon Iver by any other name is still très bon. It doesn’t much matter with whom Justin Vernon is rocking so long as he keeps churning out top-shelf folk-rock with a post-rock scope — or making epic music in any genre, really. (Hi Kanye!) So Repave, Vernon’s second full-length alongside Wisconsin widescreen rockers Collections Of Colonies Of Bees, is every bit the big-skied wildnerness Bon Iver, Bon Iver was, and it sometimes approaches the beating-heart intimacy of For Emma, Forever Ago. It’s a neat bit of consistency for the Volcano Choir brand that the record accomplishes that blockbuster/arthouse combination while setting sail for the same boundless sonic frontier debut Unmap did, but again, what’s in a name? –Chris [LISTEN]