Living in 2020, you have to realise that music has changed drastically to its core, not necessarily for the good or bad but surely for the interesting. Technology has taken over almost every walk of life and same is the case with the music industry. We all find the new Hip-Hop & Pop culture attractive because of the extravagant portrayal of life and the adrenaline rush you obtain when you listen to such genres. But every once in a while, all of us like, maybe even need to lay back and put on something soothing, something simplistic and pure down to its very roots. And that’s where artists like Bon Iver come in.

Bon Iver is known to produce music that is written, sung & composed in a way that defines folk and succeeds to instill a sense of purity, tranquility and appreciation, and critical thinking towards life. Justin Vernon, the lead vocalist, has a voice designed in a way that it drugs you in a whole different sense. High pitched falsettos mixed with raspiness on a tenor note creates an absolutely mesmerizing atmosphere. The instruments the band uses are so well planned and layered in every single song that they create a different mood in the listener’s mind in the initial few seconds yet still manage to add twists and secondary emotions somehow.

“Calgary” is essentially a song that talks about a person who thinks he/she is falling out of love with his/her partner as they have grown old together and have developed small issues that they often seem to argue upon and fight on. I do not want to breakdown the song because that’s not what i am here to do. But i will quote some lines that really take me somewhere. The song itself is written with lyrics that are not in any way starightforward or very easily understandable. It requires context. But the most beautiful thing is that the context is open to interpretation. It talks about how love has started to fade out as the strength in their bodies and the crispiness in their minds have started to leave them. Minor disputes, minor illnesses could affect them majorly and that’s what they fear the most.

“Calgary” is composed in a way that somehow succeeds to induce hope with the help of music playing in the background over seemingly hopeless and sad lines. The beautiful synth in the beginning starts the song smoothly as it transitions into a percussive rhythm adding a little energy. The backing vocals are on point and add a completely different dynamic to the already beautiful piece. The guitar and the hats in the final verse of the song is my personal favorite as it speaks so purely and simply with lyrics directed towards a hopeful and beautiful ending to the song.

“Don’t you cherish me to sleep, oh oh oh” the very opening line of the song is telling us how the singer questions their partner if they have lost interest in their love.

“Hold me for the pops and clicks” They indicate ailment and how the singer wants their lover to be with them through old age and despair.

“Just have to keep a dialogue; teach our bodies:haunt a cause; i was only trying to spell a loss“ The sadness in these lines lies in the fact that the only thing the speaker wants is for them to still have somethings to talk about even if there is no love. He says that they are in this together, dependence is mutual because their bodies don’t have strength to exist individually. He says that if they don’t help each other, someone could eventually pass away and that’s the ultimate loss they could incur.

“So it’s storming on the lake; little waves our bodies break“ I believe that he uses the word ‘lake’ to signify that their world is small but still has problems(little waves). Their bodies and their deteriorating minds are not able enough to absorb these issues and that is a factor in them drifting apart.

So concluding the few lines i quoted from the song, “Calgary” may come across as just another sad song but there’s so much to discover between the lines. There is despair yet there is hope to find because the couple only have each other. Yes, it’s natural for a human to fall out of love with another human as time passes because age doesn’t really play by our rules. Age helps you become wiser but also makes you lose a lot. But we need to understand that eventually, we all need someone in the long run. The song makes you understand that even if the singer thinks he is out of love with his partner, he still tries hard to find reasons and reminisces upon why he fell in love in the first place. He is the happiest with her and even the idea of death doesn’t scare him as long as she is around. He understands that problems are a part of human life and they are part of the package. But that could never break them off and they never will. “Calgary” is a perfect representation of what loss and heartbreak feels like when the one you love hangs around but you can’t seem to love them enough. That is why it is a true masterpiece that would live on forever no matter what.