Hi, everyone. Spring Allergies here, the internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of this new Bon Iver record, SABLE, fABLE.

Yes, here we have the latest full-length LP from singer and songwriter extraordinaire, Mr. Justin Vernon aka Bon Iver. One of the most respected but still elusive legends on the indie circuit, a man whose sound and voice has always somehow transcended the obscure world that it comes from. And that's despite him leaning into his fame and his creative process in unorthodox ways for somebody who is often given the indie folk label, which you could say was right there in the beginning with the haunting beauty, eerie atmosphere, and unlikely touches of autotune on Justin's debut, For Emma Forever Ago.

He eventually went on to stick to his lofi guns on the highly anticipated follow-up album in 2011, around this time also landing a feature credit on the critically acclaimed My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Justin, for a time, was also playing more into his pop-soul leanings with the Gayngs musical collective for a bit, doing a deep dive into experimental electronics and art pop on the totally unexpected 22, a Million. That was back in 2016.

At this point, Vernon has spent over a decade zigging while most expect him to zag. He is doing it once again, of course, on his latest LP here, but in a different way, SABLE, fABLE, which we began to get inklings of last year in the form of the SABLE EP, which was a four-track affair and now makes for the first "disc," as it were, of this album. It was one of my favorite EP releases from last year, and it was interesting just how straightforward the material on it was, with Vernon really giving us a lot of no-muss, no-fuss, acoustic balladry.

Intimate performances, subtle nuances, passionate vocals, memorable refrains, whether where you're talking about the twinkly and mesmerizing "Things Behind Things Behind Things", or the more laidback, rustic, and heart-wrenching "S P E Y S I D E", whose lyrics are just loaded with remorse.

The songwriting and instrumentals on this EP are just simple, gorgeous, personal. Justin even dabbles in a track that feels almost like a religious experience on the final cut here, "Awards Season", where the vocal phrasings and chord changes most definitely have a gospel feel. The spot-lit vocals and slightly atmospheric production are a nice touch. The organ and horn bridge crescendo in the second half is enrapturing. Its only sin is that it is just so brief. And while the track does end off in a somewhat inconspicuous way, it's gorgeous while it's on and certainly left me hanging, wanting more, wondering what this next chapter for Bon Iver would hold.

And honestly, I was surprised to see SABLE stacked onto a new album release in the way that it is here. But amazingly, this ends up not being so bad a thing, and we flow pretty seamlessly from one section of this record to the next because the first track on Disc 2, "Short Story", brings what sounds like the drone that ends "Awards Season" off back with vocals that bring variation on some of the melodic ideas from award season. So it really does end up being a transitional moment in extension with more lush layers of keys and synths.

But yeah, we truly do make an effective transition into the fABLE section of this record, where the first full song is "Everything is Peaceful Love", which stylistically, I would say, is a gorgeous culmination of the many genres Justin has been known to toy with as of late. You have these quirky homespun electronics sputtering away in the background, smooth soul style vocals with some icy keys. There's also a bit of a country in folk twang in the acoustics hanging in the background, too.

Now, I will say the vocal delivery is not going to be for everybody. Justin's falsetto to this day is very idiosyncratic for sure. It's giving tiny Michael McDonald vibes in a way, which I know is a strange comparison to make, but there's still something to it, especially since the tune and the emotion is definitely there in the performance. I love the lyrics of the song, too. This idea of being in love and wondering if that passion, if that relationship, is going to go the distance given all of the changes life tends to naturally throw your way.

I would say there's a strong song and a similar mix of influences on the track "Walk Home", too, but it's a slightly different makeup with a very beefy, loose, boom bap style beat hanging in the background, speaking for the song's backbone. Some warm bass lines, more soulful vocals. Again, some of the more atmospheric layers in the mix have a country twang. Meanwhile, there are lots of vocal and piano embellishments that have a slightly gospel feel. The chipmunked sample chops are certainly an interesting touch as well, but one that makes this track sound wholly unique. I'm also liking the tone change in the lyrics as well, as this song isn't so much based in fear, but instead wanting more closeness, more intimacy.

The fire and the passion turns up on the following "Day One", which features not just Dijon, but Flock of Dimes, too. There's a bit of duet style vocal chemistry here, some killer harmonies as well. It's another powerful ballad that in a way is assembled like a hip hop or pop song where you have what sounds like all of these fragmented sampled bits of percussion and piano. But there are still a lot of gorgeous and organic elements to the song still, like the roaring wall of horns in this crescendo in the second half of the song is absolutely powerful.

Following this, we have the song "From", which is a pretty significant switch up. Stylistically, I feel like we're getting a touch of heartland rock, but it's like something Springsteen or Seeger would have done more late era, maybe a soft rock ballad to hop on pop radio or something like that. It's okay. I don't think it's the strongest moment on the album, musically or instrumentally, but I do appreciate what the track brings to the record narratively, in terms of adding to this ongoing thing about this love rollercoaster Vernon is seemingly on with this record.

We then move on to the much funkier "I'll Be There", which I don't think leaves much stronger of an impression, even with its out-of-place slap bass licks popping up here and there. On this track, we also hear Justin's vocals in a more raw state, I would say, which in a way does feel like hearing the veil pull – the magic is a little lost, as I do think the singing comes across cartoonish inadvertently here.

I think to a degree, the production also begins to fall off a little with the "If Only I Could Wait" track featuring Danielle Haim, which for sure had the potential to be a powerful moment on this record, especially with two very passionate singers on it. But there's something off about the instrumentation on this track, the synced up, thumping, echoed piano and drum hits, the strings overlapping vocals, arpeggios, the briddle snare and hi-hat sequences. There's a lot going on, but very little of it actually sounds cohesive and like it's coming together. The whole track feels more cluttered than grandiose, and by the time it is firing on all cylinders in the second half, I'm just not really sure where to direct my attention.

Following this, "There's a Rhythm" seemingly brings the storyline of this record to a close and strips things back to just beats and pianos and vocals, and the song is the better for it. And narratively, this track leaves this entire experience off on a very sad but assuring cliffhanger, saying that right now there needs to be some space and some time taken away from each other, but eventually down the road hoping to reset things. And following this with the closing track, we have a very serene key outro, which is quite nice.

But yeah, very interesting project and tracklist build on this one. While I was highly impressed with what the final product of this record was, like a lot of things Vernon does, it somehow feels out of the purview of a normal album release, even narratively, because this isn't quite a break-up album. It's more a taking a break album. And yeah, it's not a normal sequence for a record as well, because to start things off, you have this opening EP and then this transitional "Short Story" track, which brings us into literally a short story, which the rest of the record tells us.

But outside of a few pockets where the instrumentation and songcraft leaves a bit to be desired, for the most part, I thought this album was great and one of Justin's most beautiful and straightforward projects ever. So yeah, a curious one, but a very enjoyable one from Mr. Vernon on this project. One that I feel I'm going to have to give a strong 7 to a light 8.

Anthony Fantano, Bon Iver, Forever.