2006 was a bad year for Justin Vernon. His band broke up, his girlfriend left him, and he came down with a serious bout of mononucleosis hepatitis - a severe form of herpes that leaves your lungs inflamed. He spent the winter getting steamboats in his father’s cabin in rural Winsconsin, where he wrote almost all of ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’ on a laptop with a 1960s Silvertone guitar. It was a very successful record. Four years later he was an arena-level folk-star, collaborating with Kanye West and Nicki Minaj on the greatest hip-hop album of the 21st century, ‘My Dark Beautiful Twisted Fantasy’.
For Emma, Forever Ago is the 461st Greatest Album of All Time, according to Rolling Stone magazine. This week, Christopher and Liam listened to it, and now they’re going to talk about it. Featured topics include: liquid acid, powerful loneliness, the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, Zane Lowe, the origins of modern hipsterdom and auto-tuned Appalachian folk choirs. All that plus Secret Posho, on this week’s episode of Enjoy An Album. Enjoy!