In less than a month, Bon Iver’s first album in six years – SABLE, fABLE, – will be out everywhere. Two songs from it plus coinciding lyric videos released on Friday, March 14: “If Only I Could Wait (feat. Danielle Haim)” and “Walk Home.”
In what simultaneously feels like a return to form and a fresh, purposeful new chapter, this morning's release of the two tracks and coinciding lyric videos also delivered the immediate next step in a story started by single "Everything Is Peaceful Love," which dropped one month ago today – Feb. 14, Valentine's Day (of course). The song delivered a stark contrast to the doused-in-black SABLE, delivering a hi-fi, lush pop piece that described the overwhelming happiness of a man meeting a future partner.
This morning, track No. 6, “Walk Home,” and No. 10, “If Only I Could Wait (feat. Danielle Haim)” released in full, just minutes apart. The latter was dreamt up in Vernon’s Fall Creek studio, April Base, in 2022.
""Walk Home" takes the next step (from "Everything Is Peaceful Love"), where in a moment of sex and irrepressible desire, "we don't need no window curtains," sings Justin Vernon, basking in a salmon-colored glow," a recent media release said. ""We can let the light come in, we can shed your earthly burdens."
"But fables are not interested in happy endings, and on "If Only I Could Wait," a duet between Justin Vernon and Danielle Haim, two voices intertwine to illustrate the weariness that can follow the joyous flood of new love, when one may no longer have the strength to be the best version of themselves."
"For the second look into fABLE, it couldn't be a single; it had to be a double. First, 'Walk Home' is a romp where you can't wait to pull your clothes off fast enough and jump inside bed with your one true lover," Vernon said in a media release. "And then – the two of singles – 'If Only I Could Wait.' A duet. A bilateral crying question. How long can the two of us hang on to each other?"
Pre-order the upcoming album SABLE, fABLE from The Local Store right here.
Photo by Graham Tolbert
The 12-song album was partially delivered, unbeknownst to the public for several months, in last fall’s solitary and vulnerable three-song EP, SABLE. Those songs – “THINGS BEHIND THINGS BEHIND THINGS,” “S P E Y S I D E,” and “AWARDS SEASON” – are the first three on the forthcoming 12-song album. Now with a few more pieces to the puzzle, perhaps the first true taste of the full project can now be enjoyed altogether: rampant joy and vibrant, radiant pop sounds are also found during, after, or because of anxiety, guilt, hope, and acceptance of it all.
The new full-length project, SABLE, fABLE, is produced by Vernon and Jim-E Stack, mainly recorded at Vernon’s Fall Creek studio, April Base.
SABLE, fABLE, releases everywhere April 11. You can pre-save the full project online here.
