4/5
Vernon's Fables
October's very own, 'Sable EP' from Justin Vernon and his Eau Claire, Wisconsin, U.S. folk project Bon Iver has evolved into this New Music Friday's 'Sable, Fable' LP, like a black/pink square. The biggest album of the week, in the same seven days we see The Mars Volta finally release their long-leaked 'Lucro Sucio; Los Ojos del Vacío', after the incredible comeback run they've been on ('Vigil' off their self-titled return to form is still one of the best songs I've heard in years). Bon Iver, the best group in the world, are no stranger to a rich vein of form and classic tracks. 'Things Behind Things behind Things' has been playing over and over and over again, since its fall release with the Autumn leaves. Alongside the continuing '...' intro, 'Speyside' single and 'Awards Season' Grammy ready hit, last year's 'Sable' extended play leads the start of this album, before the 'Fable' takes over.
It's from there that the 'Short Story' like Aesop continues on Disc 2 of this Jagjaguwar label gem from the April Base of Fall Creek. The single, 'Everything Is Peaceful Love' is absolutely beyond beautiful, my dear. Ditto for the long and grand 'Walk Home'. These indie folk take you on a trip for forty formidable minutes on the stylized 'SABLE fABLE'...and they bring along some friends too. The first Iver album since 2019's 'I, I', and the band's fifth, also offers a warm welcome to Dijon and Flock Of Dimes from 'Day One' and Danielle Haim on 'If Only I Could Wait'. Echoing a Bon Justin's own 'Folklore', 'Exile' with Danielle's friend Taylor Swift, this sweet song and home studio, music video, lost and quarantined out in the woods, is a calendar highlight for both parties. Even with Danielle and her sisterhood of Haim back to the party with their own 'Relationships' record and their real 'Everybody's Trying To Figure Me Out', taking it to press photos. "If only you could wait/I ain't up at your pace yet/I take the steps to stage/And they hit me with the rays now/But if I could only pray/In the blaze of a northern bar/I'd bend another straight/We'll decay in other ways now", Haim harmonizes.
Jim-E Stack digs and stacks more vinyl crates with Vernon after producing prolific non-album singles for Bon Iver like 'PDLIF' and 'AUATC' for your AUX, during the COVID-19 quarantined 2020. The already acclaimed album that debuted at the Terasaki Budokan in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles is one to take great inspiration 'From', like "When I called you from the hotel/You said you were doing well/But I could tell/Just last May there was confetti in the car/And now, it seems we're far apart/But I'm ready/Don't you feel me?/Don't you feel compelled?/Oh, you how can't just be yourself?/From now on." Legendary lines from a songwriting genius, with plenty more in his back pocket ('I'll Be There') before the final 'Au Revoir'. 'There's A Rhythm' to this that plays, "I've had one home that I've known/And maybe it's the time to go/I could leave behind the snow/For a land of palm and gold." 'Sable, Fable' is a new chapter and journey into the unknown of vulnerability and solitude. But never fear, togetherness and love usually comes from this. And as you open yourself up to this, that fable and life lesson is the truth. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Playlist Picks: 'Things Behind Things Behind Things', 'Everything Is Peaceful Love', 'If Only I Could Wait (Feat. Danielle Haim)'.
Spin This: Bon Iver - 'Sable EP'
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