Alright, I also really respect the lyrics of Bon Iver. Here is my problem with them, though, they are really cool, and have very cool imagery, but they seem to lack from the same flaw as most music: they don't make sense. This is a truly a problem in modern music. Maybe its just a personal preference, but I want the lyrics of a song to have meaning, I want them to be there for a purpose, because, if you're just singing lyrics for the sake of having a vocal melody, why even have lyrics? Back in the day there was this little band called Oasis (you may have heard of them...I don't know, though, they were pretty indie), and their songs were loved by many, and their lyrics were sung by all, because their songs were catchy as fuck. However, their songs don't make sense, its like they took one of those magnet word sets, and just picked ones out that rhymed and just kind of threw them together. Bon Iver suffers from a similar problem, take the chorus of Flume for instance:
"Only love is all maroon
Gluey feathers on a flume
Sky is womb and she's the moon"
These lines do not specifically mean anything, but I don't feel like they exist just to be words for a melody line, and yeah, there is an obvious (and proclaimed) focus on the melody lines as a therapuetic means of release for singer Justin Vernon, but I never feel like these words are meaningless, they just might not make sense all the time, haha.
When I listen to a song the most important part of the song is the lyrics. Yes, the music is obviously important, and shitty melody line, or crappy instrumental parts can kill any amount of good lyric writing, but for me, the lyrics are what make a song unique, its what truly sets this song apart from another song. Because, in music, there are only so many chords, and most people (including myself), use the same basic chords, in mildly different variations, to create "different" music. However, with words, there are thousands of possibilities for word choice, which means trillions of possibilities for word arrangement, which to me is far more unique than the variations you can have on a "G, C, D G" chord progresssion.
Again, if anyone knows of any bands that lyrics that are both poetic and meaningful, please let me know, I'm always looking for bands with good lyrics
