New Bon Iver Single Heralds Band’s First Record in Five Years
three-song EP ‘SABLE,’ dropping Oct. 18
Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon finds himself back in the cabin – literally and figuratively – in the new single “S P E Y S I D E,” which serves as an introduction to the band’s first new record in five years.
The single and an accompanying video, released at midnight Friday, Sept. 20, are soulful and stripped down, harkening back to the band’s 2007 breakthrough, For Emma, Forever Ago. A black-clad Vernon plays guitar, lays in a rustic bed beneath a fluttering curtain, and wades in the water in the black-and-white video (directed by fellow Wisconsin native and lauded photographer Erinn Springer), all while singing a mournful, reflective tune that begins with the phrase “I know now that I can’t make good.”
As a top YouTube comment quipped, “Bro went back to the cabin,” referencing the rural cabin where Vernon sequestered himself to create For Emma.
The melancholy is in contrast to the joy that fans are likely feeling at the news that the song is one of three that will be included on a new EP, SABLE, which will be released Oct. 18. Other than a scattering of singles and collaborations, Sable, is the first new Bon Iver record since 2019’s Grammy-nominated i, i.
The three-song EP was recorded at Vernon’s Eau Claire-area studio, April Base, and produced by Vernon and Jim-E Stack. “Each of the EP's arrangements are centered around voice and guitar,” a media announcement noted. “Named for near-blackness, SABLE,’s lyrics are direct projections of guilt, anguish and turmoil, but also unfinished business.”
Here’s the full announcement, plus a pre-order link for the record:
Bon Iver Announces SABLE,:
Three New Songs Out October 18th On Jagjaguwar
First Single "S P E Y S I D E" Available Now,
With Music Video Starring Justin Vernon
The cover of the forthcoming SABLE,.Today, Justin Vernon announces the release of SABLE,: three intimate songs that together serve as a reset and reintroduction. Arriving October 18th via Jagjaguwar, the EP marks the first new Bon Iver record in more than five years, while stripping the project down to the primary elements on which it was originally founded. Before being Bon Iver meant playing a part.
Emerging from a slow-burning breakdown – possibly done with music, thinking increasingly about the process of healing – SABLE, is a space for Vernon to unpack the darkness, pressure and anxiety that amounted to one of the most trying periods of his life. “I know now that I can’t make good, how I wish I could,” he sings in the opening line of “S P E Y S I D E,” an apology to some loved ones he hurt, written during a moment of clarity in 2021. “I got the best of me,” he later admits. “I really damn been on such a violent spree.”
Listen to “S P E Y S I D E,” and see Justin Vernon star in the first of SABLE,’s music videos, directed by Erinn Springer: HERE.
The triptych of songs on SABLE, written from 2020-2023, were recorded at April Base in Wisconsin, but conceived in places like Key West and the Isles of Minneapolis. Produced by Justin Vernon and Jim-E Stack – with viola from Rob Moose on “S P E Y S I D E,” and contributions from other close collaborators throughout – each of the EP’s arrangements are centered around voice and guitar. Named for near-blackness, SABLE,’s lyrics are direct projections of guilt, anguish and turmoil, but also unfinished business.
Since 2019’s i,i – which earned a GRAMMY® nomination for Album of The Year, and turned Bon Iver into a world-touring, arena-filling festival headliner – Justin Vernon has worked with everyone from Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen to Zach Bryan and Travis Scott, performed for Kamala Harris and more. Through it all he often intentionally hid his face, but now, the blinds are open.
Beginning with the word “I” and ending with “everything we’ve made,” SABLE, is an unburdening and a transformation. A turning of the page, and the start of a new story.
