On songs such as "Flume" and "Creature Fear," Vernon's multi-tracked vocals sound eerily like the lonesome howls of wolves, and it's no coincidence—he's practically the indie folk Jack London, alone in the wilderness with nothing but his thoughts and his songs as company. It's the homespun production that really makes Emma soar, however, with Vernon and a few overdubbed cohorts adding rough but elegant touches throughout, from the acoustic feedback of "Flume" to the rattling, noisy percussion and vocal flange of "The Wolves (Act I and II)." But Emma's most triumphant moment doesn't arrive till the lilting lap steel and celebratory horns of "For Emma" come bursting from the speakers on the second to last track, exorcising all that seasonal depression with a burst of bittersweet sunshine.