bon iver - beth/rest

The final track off Bon Iver's new self-titled album is some sort of throwing down of the gauntlet. "You think I'm a sappy wimp?" he seems to be saying. "I'll show you just how much of a sappy wimp I can be!" "Beth/Rest" is like Bruce Hornsby-meets-Sting. Phil Collins would have killed to have come up with this song. So, yes, it is very sappy ... but I also find it sort of endearing for its outrageously wussy courage.

bon iver - re: stacks

I'm iffy on Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago album, but its final track, "Re: Stacks," is a constant comfort to me. (I'm assuming it's about, y'know, heartbreak and stuff, but it's just so soothing.) The song is used in The Romantics, which I saw here at Sundance, and I've been humming it ever since. Now maybe you will, too.