To step into the light, sometimes you’ve gotta step out of the woods.
Justin Vernon told me about the dark and light moments of reflection that produced the songs for his new “dark legend,” the full-length SABLE, fABLE, born from the roots of the SABLE EP released last fall. As he told me, “It was a strange five years, it turns out.”
The beginning of the Eau Claire native’s newest musical journey started around 2019, 2020 — a pretty wild time that brought major universal shifts. Back home in Wisconsin while the rest of the world stood still, Vernon began to feel himself falling into the familiar even while navigating the unfamiliar, and it wasn’t exactly comfortable.
Getting into (and then out) of his head — into and out of the woods so to speak — completed a wide circle that began years ago with For Emma, Forever Ago. Feelings of anxiety and depression returned with a vengeance but didn’t stick around, thanks to connections, lessons learned, mindset shakeups and real, deep love.
If the woods were where Bon Iver was born, does coming back and then breaking free again mean Bon Iver is officially in a moment of permanent transcendence? “I feel renewed.” Vernon admitted, hinting at the tangible shift.
It’s right there in the music. The unadorned regret of “S P E Y S I D E” echoes the call sent out nearly 20 years prior on that first album — the sad “former self.” Then those deep moments of grief and growth shift into joy, and hope starts welling up.
Songs like “Everything Is Peaceful Love” are like an exhale, and the full and confident sound (and playfulness) of Vernon returns. It recalls sweet moments of reinvigoration, new love and collaboration that he kicked into motion on his second, self-titled album released in 2011.
And, oh, does the new album have collaborators. There are the supportive “usual suspects” of S. Carey, Jenn Wasner, Andrew Fitzpatrick, Phil Cook and Ryan Olson, plus new growth in the forms of Dijon, Danielle Haim and Mk.gee tapping in with their fresh voices.
As Vernon shares this metamorphosis of a fifth album, the impetus of refresh and growth seems to stem from a “back to beginnings” mentality: brushing off the dust from his beloved studio space and home, reconnecting with his inner child through play and sitting with his thoughts — investigating and simply “trying to grow.”
I got some more clues about where everything began from Vernon himself, as we sat down for a conversation just before SABLE, fABLE officially released.
Interview highlights
On SABLE; SABLE, fABLE; and getting out of “the woods”:
[SABLE] was really quite literally me alone in the woods for the first time since the For Emma record was made. It's sort of an unwelcome feeling of familiarity and anxiety, depression of these things. But, making the songs, it really kind of helped.
And the fABLE songs, they all kind of intermixed. I wasn't exactly sure of the concept until I got further along and started to see what they were all doing as a group. The fABLE songs are really about me kind of leaving the woods and leaving that “cabin guy” and whatever “Bon Iver” has been and deciding to kind of take a leap into joy and leaving some of those old habits behind.
On “going for the heart and soul” and when inspiration hits:
I think songs are vehicles of the subconscious — and who knows what the subconscious is a vehicle for? Our shared experiences, our shared psychology and our shared … everything. It’s the wavelengths. But once something comes, once inspiration hits, I sort of just try to sit in the chair and listen to what the song needs.
And it's really about turning something off as it is turning something on. There is truth in song, and I'm usually in a pretty reflective place … generally, I'm investigating. I think that's the word. I'm trying to grow.
On a return to April Base and studio ghosts:
It was empty for a long time, and that was sort of strange, but it was good. It also was renewed, and now it's in this new form, and the old times are still rattling around. But there's a new chance to show, you know?
I think we got rid of most of [the ghosts]. I think there were a lot of ghosts, honestly. I've never seen any of 'em, but I've had plenty of friends who had pretty strange experiences, but I think we did it. I think they're gone … or, I should say they're free. They've been released. [laughs]
On setting himself free of expectations and setting himself up for joy:
I've set myself free from the expectations so that I could … just be in the present and concentrate on enjoying this record. I think this record is a performance. And it's just a long-form one that's like a photograph of a performance, you know? And I want to give it a chance to live on its own.
I also wanna see what else music can do, maybe beyond the touring space, and so I'm spending a lot of time reflecting about what that may look like. It's a dreamer's world right now, because I don't know what else you can do other than just set up and play. But I'm thinking about a lot of different possibilities, and I'm taking the time to do that and not burn out in the process.
On Eau Claire and what’s on the horizon:
I've just been bouncing around. I've been spending some time in Los Angeles. Hope that doesn't bum too many of our Wisconsin folks out, but I have really fallen in love again with Eau Claire. I love my city. It was complicated there for a while, and I felt like it was harder to go out and not kind of be a distraction. But I love my city so much, and [I’ve been] spending a little more time in Los Angeles just for collaborative reasons and vitamin D deficiency. [laughs] It’s been really healthy, but this is my home and always will be.
I'm back playing basketball at my old middle school on Wednesday nights. That's pretty fun … [but] whatever form Bon Iver takes after this, I really don’t know. I can only listen to the wind, sort of about it. I’m sure whatever that is and whenever that is, that [the collaborators on the album] will all be along for the ride.
