Bon Iver – “S P E Y S I D E”

In 2019, Bon Iver released a great album called i,i and headed out on a transfixing arena tour. When the pandemic hit a few months later, the band released a pair of acronymic singles billed as Bon Iver Season Five, “PDLIF” and “AUATC.” I thought we might be in for a quick i,i follow-up, a new EP, or some kind of G.O.O.D. Fridays situation, but the new material quickly dried up, unless you count the Taylor Swift songs Justin Vernon jumped on that year. In 2022, Vernon teamed with Ethan Gruska on another one-off track called “So Unimportant” and then returned to radio silence.

Now, as 2024 nears its end, a new Bon Iver release is finally on deck. It’s not the full-length album you’ve been waiting for, but we Bonny Bear heads will take what we can get — especially considering the quality of previous abbreviated statements like 2009’s legendary Blood Bank EP. Speaking of Bon Iver’s early days, the new EP SABLE, — yes, the comma is part of the title — is billed as “a reset and reintroduction” to the band. A press release notes that it’s an exercise in “stripping the project down to the primary elements on which it was originally founded. Before being Bon Iver meant playing a part.” The promo photo below, culled from a new music video, depicts Vernon in some kind of barn, shed, or… cabin? Are you picking up what I’m putting down? Our man is shifting back into For Emma mode!

Vernon wrote the three songs on SABLE, between 2020 and 2023 in locales like Key West and the Isles of Minneapolis, and he produced them at his April Base studio in Wisconsin with Jim-E Stack. The songs are all centered on vocals and guitar, though Rob Moose contributes viola to lead single “S P E Y S I D E,” out today with a video by Erinn Springer. The SABLE, material reportedly emerged from a breakdown Vernon suffered that had him considering quitting music altogether. The emotional lurch was related to guilt he felt over hurting some family members, a subject broached on “S P E Y S I D E” in lyrics like “I got the best of me/ I really damn been on such a violent spree.”

If you have any affection for Bon Iver’s sparse acoustic side, I think you’re going to be gobsmacked by this one. Check out the “S P E Y S I D E” video below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “THINGS BEHIND THINGS BEHIND THINGS”
02 “S P E Y S I D E”
03 “AWARDS SEASON”

SABLE, is out 10/18 on Jagjaguwar. Pre-order it here.