5 Facts About Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago

The album has nine songs totaling about 37 minutes. Justin Vernon originally recorded them as demos.

Friends convinced Vernon to release the demos as-is. He did not intend them to be a finished album.

The album became one of the defining indie albums of the 2000s. Its raw, sparse sound was a direct result of the demo format.

Vernon recorded the songs in a remote cabin in Wisconsin. The isolation shaped the album’s intimate, melancholic tone.

The album’s title refers to a woman named Emma. The songs explore themes of heartbreak and loss.