Flume Lyrics

Lyric discussion by sagaxfilos 

Cover art for Flume lyrics by Bon Iver

here's what i get from the lyrics...

he is playing an Icarus figure (Icarus who flew too close to the sun and his wings melted and he fell to his death). Icarus fell from the sky and left his dad, Daedalus, in the air. Bon Iver fell from his mother's womb and left his mother, the moon, at home.

Icarus fell into the sea, this could help explain the "i move in water, shore to shore" but i'm not sure how

so basically, I see that he fells like he's got no home, he fell from his mother when he did not want to and he survives (rather than living and thriving) at best warily ("leery").

to sort of add to this, with my take I suppose, on his own Icarus figure:

I get the feeling it's about the narrator's mother dying during her first child's birth. "I am my mother on the wall, with us all" -Portrait of mom, indicates she is still with them in thought. "I am my mother's only one"-No brothers or sisters.

Also to add to Icarus: "Gluey feathers on the flume"..feathers from his wings still stick to this "flume", almost as if the impact of his mother's death is still on him..the feathers are "stuck",...