Bleep

Following his critically acclaimed debut For Emma, Forever Ago, Blood Bank is Justin Vernon’s second release for Jagjaguwar. The title track was originally written for the album, but never made the cut. As opposed to his full-length, he takes on an optimistic approach on the EP. Minor and major electric guitar chords display a broad spectrum of emotions, perfectly captured by Vernon’s ever enchanting, polyphonic falsetto. ‘Beach Baby’ returns to acoustic simplicity, whereas ‘Baby’ is based on beautifully strumming piano harmonies. The closer ‘Wood’ shows Vernon’s compositional talent in its full glory: progressing from airy, a capella autotune singing to a staggering hymn for several layers of his own voice, he proves that breaks are as effective a musical feature as any voice or instrument.