For nearly 20 years, Bon Iver has established themselves as a generational talent and a group dedicated to their art with a passion that never fades. Since their beginnings, Bon Iver has had a command over the limitless pathways that their artistry has taken. They know what they want their music to do, and they trust that the world will appreciate their unique storytelling methods.
Since their debut album, “For Emma, Forever Ago,” was released in 2007, Bon Iver has cultivated an era of indie folk music whose impact is pertinent in the current music scene. In this album, the group is effervescent, sparkling like an eons-old star reminding the universe how much light it has left. Lead singer Justin Vernon guides that light so that it reaches us, leaving us tethered to this gorgeous music that grounds us.
The group prepared listeners for the release of “SABLE fABLE” on April 11 by giving us snippets of the album with the release of the EP “SABLE” in the fall. Perhaps releasing the first portion of the album as an EP was a smart marketing decision, allowing the group to manifest the full release more comfortably after a nearly six-year drought from their latest album, the 2019 release titled “I,I.”
“S P E Y S I D E” is the “SABLE, fABLE’” lead single. It is one that shapes the intimacy of what the project sets out to be with raw production that lets band lead Justin Vernon’s unique falsetto ring true. Vernon approaches this song as a songwriter grappling with guilt and hoping the people he has done wrong will somehow find his melodic message.
On their website, the band announced “SABLE, fABLE” as “Bon Iver’s next chapter: the epilogue.” The transition from the ending of “Disc 1” into the clever beginning of “Disc 2” with “Short Story” is nothing short of perfect, acting as an overture to the exposition that Vernon animates throughout the remainder of the album.
Compared to Bon Iver’s earlier projects, “SABLE fABLE” contains more soulful shades than is usual for the group’s work. The band plays with gentle notes of R&B yet executes their craft in a way that does not sound like a jaded band trying to solve an identity crisis by mimicking the youth.
“I’ll Be There” is a warbly piece that displays tender sounds similar to “If Only I Could Wait,” a duet between Vernon and Danielle Haim, who is one-third of alternative sister-group HAIM. In “Everything is Peaceful Love,” listeners are told the story of someone who is not fearful of love, even though that love has the potential to end one day. Vernon shows that fateful day is not in the present moment and therefore unimportant, with lyrics, “And everything is peaceful love / And I know that we may go and change someday, I couldn’t rightly say, That’s for parting days.”
This album serves as a reminder of the timeless aspects of Bon Iver’s art and displays that the artists’ musical talents are not stagnant. Listeners have understood that Bon Iver is not the type of group to release new music every one or two years but the kind to surprise you with a masterpiece such as “SABLE, fABLE” that makes waiting for a gift even more special.
Every album is a body of work that Bon Iver hopes will linger in the hearts of those who discover it. This is a group that has never abandoned their roots but instead grows upon them.
