‘AWARDS SEASON’ by Bon Iver - Lyrics & Meaning

The most recently penned song for Bon Iver's unexpected 2024 SABLE, EP, ‘AWARDS SEASON’ - in classic Bon Iver fashion - doesn't actually feature the phrase ‘awards season’ at any point. In an official statement accompanying the EP's arrival, it was revealed that Bon Iver wrote the verses for ’AWARDS SEASON’ while going on lengthy strolls around Minneapolis’ Lake of the Isles throughout 2023.

In that same press release, ‘AWARDS SEASON’ is described as “a song that takes stock of a major and wrenching change”, with the track zeroing in on the sense that there is unfinished business. This seemingly adds weight to the theory that SABLE, has a forthcoming sequel. Every Bon Iver album has a comma in the title, usually to signify duality (such as 22, A Million and For Emma, Forever Ago), but this is the first time the comma has been placed at the end of the name. Some believe this is a hint that SABLE, will be expanded into a full-length record.

In many ways, ‘AWARDS SEASON’ feels like the pivotal track on SABLE,, with the song referencing - and perhaps inspiring - the name of the project (“I’m a sable / and honey, us the fable”). Listeners were pleasantly surprised to see that country up-and-comer, Carter Faith, is credited as providing backing vocals on ‘AWARDS SEASON’. The track also conceals a sample of Phil Cook's ‘Miles Away’ with Amelia Meath.

SABLE, as a whole marks a return to the rawer, more straightforward folk of Bon Iver's debut project, For Emma, Forever Ago. Gone are the electronic distortions and intentional glitches of Bon Iver's 22, A Million and i,i, with the dazzling experimentation of these projects replaced by a desire to be direct with listeners. In recent years, Justin Vernon - the man behind Bon Iver - has twisted and modified his voice in so many ephemeral directions that we forgot what Vernon's real baritone sounded like. On ‘AWARDS SEASON’, his crisp vocals take centre-stage, with large portions of the track finding him singing completely a cappella.

A subtle sample of Phil Cook's ‘Miles Away’ with Amelia Meath can be heard infused into the sparse instrumental, as can a set of backing vocals from country prodigy, Carter Faith. However, the absence of any accompaniment for much of ‘AWARDS SEASON’ seems to embody the absorbing abyss and blackness denoted by the titular term ‘sable’, with Bon Iver singingly vulnerably out into the void.

There is a brief introduction of ambient synths, before a striking saxophone, the faint cry of pedal steel and the spiritual hum of an organ cuts through and momentarily steals the spotlight, seemingly signifying the protagonist's moment of self-realisation.

The minimalist composition makes ’AWARDS SEASON’ feel like the successor to ‘Woods’ and ‘715 - CRΣΣKS’, but with his voice purified and stripped of the haunting, digitised effects.

“I can handle

Way more than I can handle

So I keep reaching for the handle

To flood my heart”

Feelings of anxiety and uncertainty pervade Bon Iver's SABLE, EP, and these come to a head on ‘AWARDS SEASON’. The opening lines seemingly contain a contradiction, but it feels as though the first lyric (“I can handle / Way more than I can handle”) is the protagonist outwardly claiming he's doing okay. In reality, though, he is unable to deal with this level of stress and pressure. This could also be read as the narrator lying to himself about his capacity to manage his discomfort.

We then get another lyric ending with ‘handle’, as he croons about reaching for the handle of what is presumably an alcoholic drink, so he can ‘flood’ and wash away his deep-seated pain.

“And the Spaniard

In song that I have pandered to

Is always handing me the anvil

Saying, “That's for you””

This seems to be an obscure reference to a character Bon Iver sees that is holding ‘the anvil’ above his head, creating a cartoonish image of the protagonist's impending doom. It's unclear who exactly the ‘Spaniard’ he refers to here is meant to be.

“But then you came to me

From olympic heavy duty

We both needed so much soothing

Played you Rickie Lee”

Bon Iver describes how a friend or lover came to him during his crisis, and offered him comfort. He was able to help ease their troubled mind in return, partly by playing some music by Rickie Lee Jones, an artist Bon Iver has cited as an influence in the past.

“Oh how everything can change

In such a small time frame

You can be remade

You can live again

What was pain now’s gained

A new path gets laid

And you know what is great

Nothing stays the same”

Here, the theme of change - another tenet of SABLE, - comes to the fore, as the narrator reflects on how quickly and jarringly a situation can spin on its head, leaving him feeling lost again. He movingly observes how painful moments can eventually transform into lessons and strength, with Bon Iver now toasting change as part of the beauty of life (“And you know what is great / Nothing stays the same”).

“Felt you through me

In every clue you threw me

Pointing at me asking, “Who, me?”

What a start

You had taken

All away my aching

Well, how could I ever thank ya

I’d been received”

The protagonist again pays tribute to the person that came into his life when he was struggling, with Bon Iver crooning lovingly about how they lifted the anguish off his shoulders.

“But I’m a sable

And honey, us the fable

You said that you were unable

That it’s not reprieve”

The protagonist drops the name of the EP for the first time here, portraying himself as ‘a sable’, seemingly referring to the darkness and gloom that he feels he brings to the relationship. Then, the narrator warmly depicts the couple together as being ‘the fable’, perhaps viewing them as embodying the happy ending of a fairytale.

“Oh but maybe things can change

What can wax can wane

Things can get replayed

And if it's all the same

Oh just take my hand

And place it on your blame

And let it wash away

With you I will remain”

‘AWARDS SEASON’ becomings increasingly rose-tinted and optimistic, as the narrator embraces the inevitability of change and joyfully leaps into the relationship. He implores the person to “just take my hand”, as he yearns to remain with them forever.

“You came over

Short after it was over

You as precious as a clover

In a meadow’s sun”

The protagonist hints that there was a rocky patch in the relationship, recalling how the lover came over to spend some time with him, with the romance being concluded soon after this. Nonetheless, he still harbours strong feelings for them, championing them as precious as a rare five-clear clover, glinting alluringly in “a meadow's sun”. This pastoral, bucolic imagery contrasts with the isolation and frostiness that accompanies Bon Iver's descriptions of rural life throughout his early material.

“You had no answers

So we laid back to backs and

Clasped treasure with our hands

Held all fate”

Much of Bon Iver's discography is geared towards striving towards a deeper understanding - whether it be of faith, his own identity or the world around him. On ‘AWARDS SEASON’, however, he seems much more content to accept that he won't have all the answers. The protagonist seems to choose the blissful ignorance of being love, instead of continuing to torture himself over complex existential questions.

“But now it's the season

And I know I will be seein’ ya

On the TV for some reason

God, my heart”

The narrator adds a caveat, as he references seeing his partner - who may be an ex at this point in the song - on TV. Their appearance brings all his lingering feelings back to the surface.

The title ’AWARDS SEASON’ seems to imply that the protagonist's old flame is a high-profile figure, and he'll therefore see them winning at the Grammys and other ceremonies.

“Why do things gotta change?

We were on our way

To be best to face

All that comes in gray

It's so hard to explain

And the facts are strange

And you know what will stay?

Everything we’ve made”

It's not 100% clear - as is often the case with Bon Iver, who tends to hold back some of the meaning for himself - but it appears that ’AWARDS SEASON’ ends with the pair broken up. He laments how things changed for the worse as they went their separate ways, before underlining how he will always cherish the memories they made together.

Earlier in the song, the protagonist provides a glimmer of hope in the lyric “And you know what is great / Nothing stays the same”, which could imply he is holding onto the belief that the couple's situation may shift once again, this time in his favour.

“I can handle

Way more than I can handle

So I keep reaching for the handle

To flood my heart

-

And the Spaniard

In song that I have pandered to

Is always handing me the anvil

Saying, “That's for you”

-

But then you came to me

From olympic heavy duty

We both needed so much soothing

Played you Rickie Lee

-

Oh how everything can change

In such a small time frame

You can be remade

You can live again

What was pain now’s gained

A new path gets laid

And you know what is great

Nothing stays the same

-

Felt you through me

In every clue you threw me

Pointing at me asking, “Who, me?”

What a start

-

You had taken

All away my aching

Well, how could I ever thank ya

I’d been received

-

But I’m a sable

And honey, us the fable

You said that you were unable

That it’s not reprieve

-

Oh but maybe things can change

What can wax can wane

Things can get replayed

And if it's all the same

Oh just take my hand

And place it on your blame

And let it wash away

With you I will remain

-

You came over

Short after it was over

You as precious as a clover

In a meadow’s sun

-

You had no answers

So we laid back to backs and

Clasped treasure with our hands

Held all fate

-

But now it's the season

And I know I will be seein’ ya

On the TV for some reason

God, my heart

-

Why do things gotta change?

We were on our way

To be best to face

All that comes in gray

It's so hard to explain

And the facts are strange

And you know what will stay?

Everything we’ve made”

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