"Fall Creek Boys Choir" is a song by
James Blake and
Bon Iver
Bon Iver ( ) is an American indie folk band founded in 2006 by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon.
Vernon released Bon Iver's debut album, ''For Emma, Forever Ago,'' independently in July 2007. The majority of the album was recorded while Vernon ...
, released as the first single from Blake's ''
Enough Thunder''
EP. The song was premiered on
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...
and released on the internet on August 24, 2011. It was released commercially as a single on August 29, 2011. The song extensively uses multi-layered vocals,
auto-tune
Auto-Tune (or autotune) is an audio processor introduced in 1996 by American company Antares Audio Technologies. Auto-Tune uses a proprietary device to measure and alter pitch in vocal and instrumental music recording and performances.
Auto-Tu ...
and
vocoder
A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''voice'' and ''encoder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation.
The vocoder was ...
s.
The song's title is a reference to
Fall Creek, Wisconsin
Fall Creek is a village in Eau Claire County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,315 at the 2010 census. The village is bordered by the Town of Lincoln.
History
Fall Creek was founded in 1870. The village was named after the rapids ...
, where
Justin Vernon
Justin DeYarmond Edison Vernon (born April 30, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the primary songwriter and frontman of indie folk band Bon Iver. Known for his distinct falsetto voic ...
, Bon Iver's frontman, owns the recording studio
April Base Studios.
Critical reception
Steve Horowitz of
PopMatters
''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...
praised the song and gave it eight out of ten stars, stating, "The two work in completely different genres. Blake and dubstep has its roots in urban electronic dance music. Bon Iver’s recordings show an affinity for rural folk traditions and harmony vocalizations that recall the open air of his remote Wisconsin home. But the results are in with a single called "Fall Creek Boys Choir" that sounds like someone welded the two sounds together with a blow torch. That's a compliment. While the Frankenstein-style creation may not resemble the pure music of each other's past, it lives and breathes."
Track listing
References
External links
*
{{authority control
2011 singles
James Blake (musician) songs
Bon Iver songs
Polydor Records singles
Songs written by Justin Vernon
2011 songs
Songs written by James Blake (musician)