Bon Iver new EP Blood Bank changes direction and puts out this weak EP.  The follow up to his masterpiece For Emma, Forever Ago is still in the works, but this EP shows the potential of what it will sound like.  With only 4 tracks (one of which he experiments a little too much), this EP is suppose to wet your appetite on what may sadly come; a crummy experimental record.

“Blood Bank”, the title track, features electric guitars and strings.  He continues with his reverb filled voice, but now he’s got an electric guitar filled with chorus effect to accompany him.  The coda features a misplaced feedback guitar solo.  It sounds like it belongs in a Radiohead tune rather than something from this folksie guy.  He does continue to sing in his The Band like higher pitch vocal style and thats all that this track has going for it.  The mood is right, but ends up in the wrong place (No wonder his band broke up they must have sucked). Listen to this clip with random visuals:

“Beach Baby” is the only track worth listening to on this horrible EP.  Maybe I like his previous album a bit much, but this is the only track that harks back to that out in the woods sound.  It’s got the typical acoustic guitar and vocal sound that works.  The weird Hawaiian like guitar solo seems to work on this track surprisingly.
I swear I heard a toddler play piano like the intro to “Babys” in the local mall, but maybe that is the effect he’s going for.  There is also an acoustic guitar that is strumming along, but this produces a horrible cacophony of nonsense.  Constantly repeating “Summer comes to multiply, to multiply” sounds like he is at a point in his life to have kids or a “fleet” as he claims.  One of the more straightforward lyrically pieces on this album.  Unfortunately, I think babies make more interesting noises in their diapers than this song.

Daniel Martin Moore had no idea that he would be signed to Sub Pop when he submitted his demos to them the old fashioned way, via mail.  Kentucky is not a place where many great songwriters come from, but we now have one to add.  Being a nomad, he was contacted while working in Costa Rica in a bed and breakfast.  If he had regrettably not submitted his work, we would not have this masterpiece we have today.

He is the shining star or golden folk child for Sub Pop.  The album Stray Age features his vocals and guitar primarly as traditional folk albums of the 60’s and 70’s did.  He may be the next James Taylor, Paul Simon or Bread of this generation.   Sub Pop allows streaming of his album (click here (Note: You need to sign up for a free account)). Check out this video:

Daniel Martin Moore follows the traditional folk line with the use of traditional acoustic folk guitar (no electric guitars are present) and warm / gentle vocals.  He uses the old trick of using a capo similar to James Taylor “Fire And Rain”.  However, it doesn’t sound like he uses alternate tunings (a-la Joni Mitchell), but I could be wrong.  The songs flow one into the other with only a few points where you will notice a difference all while keeping the feeling the same.