On follow-up ‘Bon Iver, Bon Iver’, the project expanded into a full band, moving into with dreamy art pop and soft rock stylings. Their third album, 2016’s ‘22, A Million’, pivoted hard into freak-out glitchy pop with their most daring but enigmatic album yet. Finally, their fourth effort, ‘i,i’, saw them take that wild experimentation and combine it with elements of pop soul, crafting a more accessible take on the previous album’s sound.
On their latest album ‘SABLE, fABLE’, however, Bon Iver seem not to have reinvented themselves for the first time in their history.
Its first act, ‘SABLE,’ was initially released as a standalone EP late last year, and its three tracks all pull from the group's earlier work. ‘THINGS BEHIND THINGS BEHIND THINGS’ feels like an updated take on songs like ‘Minnesota, WI’ or ‘Towers’ from the second album. Lead single ‘S P E Y S I D E’ feels like a track cut from the debut in both sound and lyricism, with some even referring to the track as a ‘back to the cabin’ moment for Bon iver, referring to the isolated hunting cabin that the majority of that album was recorded in; And final track ‘AWARDS SEASON’, with its gorgeous saxophones and subtle synths, feels like one of the sparser tracks from ‘22’ stretched out into a five-minute meditation on a failed relationship.
The remaining nine tracks that appear on the album’s ‘fABLE’ portion are a more refined take on the sound of ‘i,i’. Art pop fused with soul, a strong collaborative spirit, with just enough elements from the bands indie folk roots to keep the aural experimentation from isolating existing fans. Tracks like the single ‘Walk Home’ with its pitched up vocals on the hook or ‘Day One’, featuring Dijon and Flock of Dimes, with its glitched out samples stabbing into the mix would have felt right at home on their previous album, and the rest of the album doesn’t stray too far from that core sound.
While ‘SABLE, fABLE’ may not divert from its predecessor in any major way, there are still some interesting things going on musically, like the more noticeable use of slide guitar on tracks like ‘THINGS BEHIND THINGS BEHIND THINGS’ or ‘Walk Home’. The band also still finds time to experiment with genre; ‘From’ takes just as much from 90’s country pop as it does pop soul. The band still manages to find some time to play around with their sound a bit, even in this more stripped back and loose environment.
Where Vernon really takes the time to transform the band is in the lyrics. Previous albums would feature lyrics that were both cryptic and sorrowful. While songs like ‘33 “GOD”’ were musically triumphant, their lyrical subject matter was often impenetrable, weaving lyrical references to religion with personal anecdotes and strange imagery. ‘i,i’ had its moments of simplicity, there were still plenty of cryptic and unusual lines. ‘SABLE, fABLE’, on the other hand, is a more lyrically straightforward album, but in a way that makes the songwriting feel more honest and open than before. A song like ‘If Only I Could Wait’, featuring Danielle Haim, still makes use of metaphor, but in a way that's more understandable for the average person to dissect and digest. ‘Walk Home’ feels like a quarantine-era jam updated for the current day, with lines like “Can we stay inside this place? / Pull me close up to your face” establishing the mood and lyrical themes of the song effectively.
The album’s most interesting song from a songwriting standout is the penultimate track ‘There's A Rhythm’. Vernon spends the duration of this track learning to accept and live at peace with change and the passage of time. There are explicit references to songs and lyrical themes from previous Bon Iver albums here, such as “There’s a chance to show / No need to crow no more”, calling back to the black crow from ‘For Emma’ closer ‘Re:Stacks’. Past Bon Iver albums, as jubilant or celebratory as they could be at times, felt like a man trying to find peace with himself through music and mass collaboration. ‘SABLE, fABLE’ feels like that man has finally found peace after so many years, and it’s an absolute joy to hear from start to finish.
