By now the fairy tale success story of Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon has become well-documented and perpetuated by romantic writers embellishing Vernon’s trek into the woods as “some story that isn’t there.” What most people who are familiar with the Bon Iver story may not know is that Vernon has been a strong presence in the Midwest music scene for some time, recording with many local artists and mixing and producing records for others.
The Shouting Matches is another of Vernon’s various side projects, this one with drummer Brian Moen. Vernon proves he is as comfortable growling through the dirty blues of The Shouting Matches as he is crooning in his haunting falsetto as Bon Iver. Vernon’s raw vocals and gritty guitar work seem to be more at home with the vintage blues of Memphis, Tennessee than the sparse acoustic sounds of winter in Northwestern Wisconsin.
But Moen, the other half of The Shouting Matches, should not be overlooked. An accomplished musician himself, drumming for bands Amateur Love, Laarks, and most recently Montreal-based Land of Talk, Moen provides energy and momentum to Vernon’s soulful stylings.
In an extremely impromptu interview with Vernon (I almost literally ran into him at one of his hometown haunts), all I could coax out of him about The Shouting Matches was that the project is “alcohol-fueled fun.” If that’s truly the case, order these two another round.
Finally being released tonight.