Bon Iver Announces First Album in Six Years, ‘SABLE, fABLE’, with New Song, ‘Everything is Peaceful Love’, Out on Friday

Justin Vernon will release his fifth album under the Bon Iver moniker, SABLE, fABLE, on April 11th, with the lead single, ‘Everything is Peaceful Love’ arriving this Friday (February 14th).

The decision to drop this new track on Valentine's Day feels pointed, with Bon Iver's latest record being billed as a journey from dark, despondent isolation to jubilant, euphoric love.

SABLE, fABLE builds on Bon Iver's widely acclaimed three-song SABLE, EP, which dropped back in October 2024, and featured the brilliantly pared-down single, ‘S P E Y S I D E’.

When that EP dropped, a handful of fans speculated that Bon Iver might have another record on the way, with Vernon always including a comma in the middle of his album titles.

With the comma being placed at the end of SABLE,, some rightly predicted that there was a second half in store. It seems SABLE, fABLE will be part of the same structure as Bon Iver's four previous albums, but will serve more as an ‘epilogue’ of sorts.

The Wisconsin native, who has established himself as a boundary-shifting trailblazer in the experimental folk scene, themed each of his preceding four albums around a season. This led some to believe we wouldn't be getting any more music from Bon Iver, once that four-season cycle had been completed with 2019's i,i.

The unveiling of his mysterious Counterpart project late last year, which posed questions such as ‘Who else could embody the role of Bon Iver?’, consolidated suspicions that Vernon was preparing to either put an end to Bon Iver, or leave it in the hands of another artist.

Thankfully, there's more on the way for now, with SABLE, fABLE set to include a total of 12 tracks - including ‘S P E Y S I D E’, ‘AWARDS SEASON’ and ‘THINGS BEHIND THINGS BEHIND THINGS’ from the SABLE, EP. SABLE, fABLE features a trio of collaborations with Dijon, Flock of Dimes and the lead singer from HAIM, Danielle Haim.

The narrative of SABLE, fABLE appears to loosely follow a protagonist who experiences the immense darkness of the three SABLE offerings, before venturing into a brighter, more joyful space filled with love and warmth, represented by fABLE. The ethereal, enigmatic vocal layering that permeated the visceral, haunting i,i and 22, A Million are eschewed in favour of the lucid, direct delivery of SABLE.

The lower-case ‘f’ will surely be significant, with Bon Iver posing next to an open salmon-coloured book with an ‘f’ on the left page for the official SABLE, fABLE promotional photo, but the exact meaning of this de-capitalisation remains unclear as of yet.

Either way, while fans will no doubt be trepidatious about the fact that the final track on SABLE, fABLE is titled ‘Au Revoir’ - a possible goodbye to the French nom de plume of Bon Iver (“good Winter”), perhaps? - at present, we'll simply be celebrating the fact that there's more music en route from one of modern music's leading visionaries.

For the full tracklist to Bon Iver's SABLE, fABLE, see below:

1. THINGS BEHIND THINGS BEHIND THINGS

2. S P E Y S I D E

3. AWARDS SEASON

4. Short Story

5. Everything Is Peaceful Love

6. Walk Home

7. Day One (feat. Dijon and Flock of Dimes)

8. From

9. I'll Be There

10. If Only I Could Wait (feat. Danielle Haim)

11. There's A Rhythmn

12. Au Revoir

For more on Bon Iver, see below: