Bon Iver's second album came a few years after For Emma, Forever Ago, the debut recorded by Justin Vernon alone in an isolated cabin somewhere deep in the forests of Wisconsin shortly after a breakup. If For Emma, Forever Ago, makes the most of that crushing, heartbroken loneliness, Bon Iver delivers on the same deep, dark sadness, but with the company of a masterful group of musicians backing up the dower frontman. Strings, heavy brass in tracks like "Beth/Rest," military band snare drum in "Perth," and pedal steel throughout lend an etherial, expansive quality to Vernon's falsetto vocals and wistful fingerstyle guitar. With this album, Bon Iver brought new dimension to the soft, sad indie-folk sound Vernon had so expertly established, reaching higher highs and lower lows than every before.

First listen: