LISTEN /// BON IVER - BETH/REST (SOLO PIANO VERSION)
It’s pretty safe to say that I hate the album version of this track with a passion usually reserved for Mumford & Sons, and a lot of people are with me on that. Whereas the preceding nine tracks on Bon Iver’s eponymous second LP are beautiful, restrained and tender, only briefly flirting with electronics, “Beth/Rest” goes all-out cheesy, 80s soft-rock, enough to make this blogger wretch. However that all changed when Justin Vernon swung by NPR to record a stripped down solo version of the song, using only his voice and piano. The new version is hauntingly beautiful, sending chills down your spine. It even sounds a little like Tom Waits’ early work in the beginning. More of this for album #3 please, Justin.