Bon Iver Announces New Album SABLE, fABLE

This is the day that folk fans have been waiting over half a decade for, because today, Bon Iver has announced his latest album SABLE, fABLE, due out April 11 via Jagjaguwar Records. While the message doesn’t come packaged with new material, the record’s lead single “Everything Is Peaceful Love” will arrive this Friday as a love letter to fans on Valentine’s Day.  Oh, and a music video directed by beloved filmmaker John Wilson? Be still our beating hearts.  

If there was a paragon for the indie folk genre, it would undoubtedly be Justin Vernon. He’s the sole voice and parlor strummer behind the Bon Iver moniker (though he records with a full band nowadays), and he’s become a household name on just about every winter playlist out there since debuting in 2008. Last October he released SABLE,, a short, three track EP that doubled down on the band’s minimalistic folktronica while further developing their ambient influences. SABLE, was one one our favorite EPs of 2024, but, at the time, we had no idea it was merely a glimpse at the next full-length Bon Iver album. 

In retrospect, all the signs of a larger concept were there on SABLE,. Each track ran together smoothly, yet the project felt concerningly unfinished at only three songs. Even its title was a glaring hint for what was to come—sneaking in that comma after SABLE for only the most astute of Bon Iver fans as if to say, “But wait, there’s more.” 

Meanwhile, SABLE, fABLE promises a grander dichotomy along its nine song tracklist. The album opens on the sparse, almost merciful atmospheres from SABLE, before shattering into a musical journey of optimistic love and newfound grace. fABLE is a light switch flicked on against the fragile void of SABLE,, with Vernon celebrating his clarity in life and yearning for widespread connection, whether that be through romantic love, deep friendship or simply an inner peace with himself. While the gloaming of SABLE, may never fully dissipate, fABLE fights back and pushes forward in cheerful confidence of what is yet to come. This chasm between each side of SABLE, fABLE represents a marked change in Vernon’s production as well. The album forgoes the layered textures and vocal manipulations of his last two projects, 2019’s i,i and 2016’s 22, A Million, and instead sees Vernon returning home to his long-dormant studio in Wisconsin (with collaborators like Danielle Haim) to better reflect the cyclical postlude that is SABLE, fABLE.

Check out the artwork and tracklist for SABLE, fABLE below and, further down, listen to Bon Iver’s 2008 Daytrotter Session. 

SABLE, fABLE Album Artwork:

SABLE, fABLE Tracklist:

THINGS BEHIND THINGS BEHIND THINGS
S P E Y S I D E
AWARDS SEASON
Short Story
Everything Is Peaceful Love
Walk Home
Day One (feat. Dijon and Flock of Dimes)
From
I’ll Be There
If Only I Could Wait (feat. Danielle Haim)
There’s A Rhythmn
Au Revoir