Justin Vernon announced the release of 'SABLE': three intimate songs that together serve as a reset and reintroduction. The EP is the first album release of the Bon Iver in more than five years.
The new EP 'SABLE', is a space for Vernon to unpack the darkness, pressure and anxiety that has been one of the most difficult periods of his life. “Now I know I can't do as much good as I wish I could,” he sings in the opening line of 'SPEYSIDE', an apology to some loved ones he's hurt, written during a moment of clarity in 2021. “I got the best of myself,” he later admitted. “I really had such a violent madness.”
The triptych of songs of 'SABLE', written from 2020-2023, was recorded at April Base in Wisconsin, but conceived in places like Key West and the Minneapolis Islands. Produced by Justin Vernon and Jim-E Stack – with Rob Moose on viola on 'SPEYSID E' and other close collaborators contributing throughout – each of the EP's arrangements focuses on vocals and guitar. Named for its darkness, 'SABLE''s lyrics are direct projections of guilt, anguish, and turmoil, but also unfinished business.
From the album 'i,i' of 2019, which earned a GRAMMY nomination for Album of the Year, the Bon Iver have become the perfect festival headliners, as well as filling the biggest arenas with their headlining tours, Justin Vernon has worked with everyone from Taylor Swift to Bruce Springsteen, Zach Bryan and Travis Scott, performed for Kamala Harris and more. Throughout it all, he often intentionally hid his face, but now the shutters are open.
Starting with the word “I” and ending with “everything we’ve done,” 'SABLE', is a lightening and a transformation. A turning of the page and the beginning of a new story.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
