Bon Iver - SABLE, fABLE - April 11, 2025 Album • Page 12

Counterpart

COUNTERPART IS A SITE DOCUMENTING CREATIVE EXPRESSION WITH AND AS BON IVER. PLEASE SHARE YOUR PHOTO, AUDIO, OR VIDEO IN RESPONSE TO OUR PROMPTS. NEW PROMPTS AND YOUR SUBMISSIONS WILL APPEAR AT RANDOM.

 

super cool idea

 

I've kind of lost the plot on the stream but it seems like I haven't missed much.

 

no plot so far haha. last week they lit a bonfire to celebrate the first snow of the season. the next day they set up a big black square in the trees

 

There’s probably only 3-4 Bon Iver songs I like more than Speyside at this point

 

Blood Bank, Re Stacks, Holocene are probably my top 3 forever—but then there’s a conversation to be had about Perth, Calgary, Strafford, Speyside, Wolves…

 

Stacked list @DaydreamNation

 

I know it's been talked about elsewhere on this site, but I can't find anything through search, but I'm re-discovering Aero Flynn's Madeline and there's some strong-ass tracks on this album, really good stuff

 

Didn't know that existed! Can't wait to check it out

 

the s/t RULES as well

 

Yeah I just listened to that for the first time recently and dug it as well. Very minimal musical output from then, do you know any reason why?

 

he's just kind of an introverted guy that has struggled with health issues and depression who I don't think was ever too concerned with making it big or having a huge audience listen to his stuff..

JV and the rest of the guys from the Eau Claire scene tried to get him to release music for years

also, he had a kid in 2020/2021 I think and stopped to focus on being a dad

this is a good read
Aero Flynn - Dine Alone Records

 

April 11.
SABLE, fABLE

 

SABLE, fABLE - Bon Iver | Secretly Store

 

let's fucking go

 

Holy shit

 

Product details:

CD: EcoCD featuring 90% recycled polycarbonate sourced from post-consumer waste streams, resulting in approximately 78% CO2/kg emission reduction. 6-panel wallet with matte varnish and spot gloss, containing a full-color 16 page booklet.

Cassette: Light grey cassette in a full color o-card

LP: 33 1/3 RPM double 12" LP inside a tip-on gatefold jacket with matte varnish and spot gloss, with custom cardstock inner sleeves. Packaging is printed in sable black and salmon, with custom interior floods on gatefold.

Artist/label store edition features second LP pressed to limited edition yellow vinyl. Exclusive to Bon Iver HQ, Secretly Store and Bon Iver Bandcamp.

---

Bon Iver’s three-song collection SABLE, was an act of vulnerability and unburdening. Written and recorded at a breaking point, they were songs of reflection, fear, depression, solitude, and atonement. The word “sable” implies darkness, and in that triptych, Justin Vernon sought to unpack some long-compounded pain. Then, at the tail end of its final track “AWARDS SEASON,” there’s the barest thread of a lighter melody—a drone, a glimmer, an ember, hope for something more. SABLE, was the prologue, a controlled burn clearing the way for new possibilities. fABLE is the book. Stories of introduction and celebration. The fresh growth that blankets the charred ground. Where SABLE, was a work of solitude, fABLE is an outstretched hand.

Compared to the sparse minimalism of its three-song table setter, fABLE is all lush vibrance. Radiant, ornate pop music gleams around Vernon’s voice as he focuses on a new and beautiful era. On every song, his eyes are locked with one specific person. It’s love, which means there’s an intense clarity, focus, and honesty within fABLE. It’s a portrait of a man flooded and overwhelmed by that first meeting (“Everything Is Peaceful Love”). There’s a tableau defined by sex and irrepressible desire (“Walk Home”). This is someone filled with light and purpose seeing an entire future right in front of him: a partner, new memories, maybe a family.

While not as minimal as its companion EP, fABLE’s sound appears to walk back the dense layers of sound Vernon hid behind on records like i,i and 22, a million. There’s nothing evasive or boundary-busting about this music. It’s a canvas for truth laid bare. Much of the album was recorded at Vernon’s April Base in Wisconsin after years of the studio laying dormant during a renovation. The album’s conceptual genesis happened on 2.22.22 when Jim-E Stack, Vernon’s close collaborator and guide throughout the creative process, arrived at the base with Danielle Haim. Snowed in for multiple days, their voices intertwined for the ballad “If Only I Could Wait.” Suddenly, Haim gave voice to this crucial perspective—the one Vernon seems to hold in sacred regard across fABLE. Accompanied by Rob Moose’s strings, it’s a track about weariness—about not having the strength to be the best version of yourself outside the glow of new love.

There’s something undeniably healing about infatuation. Cleaving to someone else can feel like light pouring in from a door that’s suddenly swung wide. But there’s a reason SABLE, is of a piece with fABLE; even after you put in the work, the shadow still rears its head from time to time. On “There’s A Rhythmn,” Vernon finds himself back in an old feeling, this time seeking an alternative instead of erasure: “Can I feel another way?” There’s an understanding that even when you’ve reached a new chapter, you’ll always find yourself back in your own foundational muck. A fable isn’t a fairy tale. Yes, there’s the good shit: unbridled joy, trips to Spain, the color salmon as far as the eye can see. But fables aren’t interested in happy endings or even endings at all; they’re here to instill a lesson.

As the album winds to a close, he acknowledges the need for patience and a commitment to put in the work. There’s a selfless rhythm required when you’re enmeshing yourself with another person. The song—and by extension the entire album—is a pledge. He’s ready to find that pace.

 

was expecting like 3 more songs not fucking 9 new ones lmao

 

Hell yeah. It was hard for me to get excited about SABLE but now I'm in.

 

need this shirt from his store

 

He thinks he's the beths

 

Dijon is on a track!

 

I am so fucking happy

 

bald boys from wisconsin stay winning