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The American indie-folk band Bon Iver’s first release of an album in six years since “i,i,” “SABLE, fABLE” strays away from the band’s originally bleak and maximalist sound. The album extends the 2024 EP “SABLE,” ultimately dividing it into two discs with three songs on “SABLE” and nine songs on “fABLE.” The two sides tell a story of regret, dread, tense relationships, miscommunication, and the slow journey to peace and joy through the power of change. Written during the COVID-19 lockdown, the album reflects the deep anxiety and loneliness of frontman and singer-songwriter Justin Vernon at the time as he healed from old wounds. The album sees Vernon undergo emotional struggles with a tone of hope and vibrancy, an unexpected and fresh twist from his previous, more melancholic work.
Featuring longtime bandmates Greg Leisz on pedal steel, Rob Moose on fiddle, Trever Hagen on trumpet, and Michael Lewis on saxophone, “SABLE” is largely driven by Vernon’s voice and guitar. The first track “...” is a mere 12 seconds, an eerie introduction to the first disc. With the title “SABLE,” the first disc of the album suggests a theme of mourning and loss.
In the second song of “SABLE,” “THINGS BEHIND THINGS BEHIND THINGS,” Vernon elucidates the suffocating nature of misery and dread through the repetition of his lyrics. He sings, “I am afraid of changing / and when it comes a time to check and rearrange shit / there are things behind things behind things.”
Vernon’s fear, a bodily dread and anxiety, is further detailed in “S P E Y S I D E.” The guitar strums complement the remorseful lyrics by punctuating the silences between each line. The last line of the song emphasizes the gravity of upholding relationships despite suffering and strain. Vernon sings, “But maybe you can still make a man from me / Here on Speyside quay with what’s left of me / As you live and breathe, I really know now what had hold on me.”
“AWARDS SEASON” changes the tide with the introduction of a new theme of rebirth through the evolution of people and the passing of time. In this track closing out the first disc, the lines “I’m a sable and, honey, us the fable” illustrate the mythical power of human connection and relationships to heal eternal grief.
As the album transitions to the second disc, a faint synth trills, echoing the hope of peace to be found in “fABLE.” The second disc opens with a piano line complementing Vernon’s voice on the track “Short Story” as he exclaims, “Oh, the vibrance! Sun in my eyes!” A transition from darkness to light, the track is a short story of triumph after grief. The dead of winter has passed, and, in its place, the hope of a new season has arrived.
This newfound exuberance shines through most clearly in the subsequent track, “Everything Is Peaceful Love,” as the pedal steel guitar, piano keys, synthesizer, drums, bass, and violin all come together to create a crashing crescendo of the elation of peace. The track encourages a focus on the peace of the present moment: “And I know that we may go and change someday I couldn’t rightly say / That’s for parting days.”
“Walk Home” reintroduces listeners to Bon Iver’s familiar sound and angst common to the band’s earlier works such as “i,i” and “22, A MILLION.” Yet, the themes of “Walk Home” contrast his earlier pieces with the message of searching for communion rather than wallowing in isolation. Slyly transitioning to a more of a country twang in “From” and “Day One,” Vernon continues with the theme of uplifting hope.
On the album’s second disc, not only does Vernon embrace the light, but he also evokes a sense of transcendence. With an organ playing in the background of the track, “I’ll Be There” embeds a spiritual certainty in the lighter mood.
Nearing the end of the second disc, Vernon’s weariness of the fickle nature of hope is clear in the track “If Only I Could Wait.“ The track’s motif of the changing seasons illustrates the changing of the tides between suffering and peace, anxiety and love, and darkness and light.
The penultimate song, “There’s A Rhythmn,” is about the reclamation of the self despite the recurrence of strife. Against an R&B beat, the track’s lyrics are introspective: “I’ve had one home that I’ve known / Maybe it’s the time to go / I could leave behind the snow.” After a career of composing music that indulges in sorrow, Vernon seems to have chosen to let the snow melt and absorb the light of the sun.
In a synthesis of rock and experimental pop with R&B and country influences, Bon Iver takes a sonic shift towards peace. In “SABLE, fABLE,” Vernon reckons with the challenge of leaving the certainty and comfort of suffering, opening his sound to an affirmation of peace, love, and joy.
