Last week, after a yearslong break, Bon Iver, a.k.a. Justin Vernon, put out a new single called “S P E Y S I D E.” The entire EP, SABLE, appropriately comes out in mid-October. There aren’t many ingredients. Vernon is joined by Rob Moose on viola and producer Jim-E Stack to create an intimate, crisp, raw song about closing a chapter. It is being hailed as a return to form. We needed it.
The first Bon Iver album To Emma, Forever Ago came with an irresistible mythology—the lone auteur trying to pull it together after a breakup, holed up in a snow-socked hunting cabin with a Silvertone guitar and a PowerMac and a winter’s worth of venison, letting the falsetto ring. But Vernon’s real breakthrough was the self-titled second album he released in 2011. If you were around for this era, it makes sense. This was the age of Fleet Foxes, James Blake, Real Estate, The War on Drugs, and M83. But what Vernon did was more expansive and more inventive and, most importantly, topped with his signature ethereal falsetto. He utilized instruments that weren’t part of the indie lexicon then: saxophone, pedal steel, and electronic keyboards. Inspired by John Prine, The Indigo Girls, Brian Eno, and Peter Gabriel, Vernon successfully eschewed typical conventions of music while keeping everything listenable and cohesive. Pitchfork loved it, and so did the sensitive frat boys. I can only assume Urban Outfitters sold thousands of copies on vinyl. Justin Timberlake performed a parody of “Holocene” on Saturday Night Live. I was living on the Lower East Side, and as soon as the temperature dropped, I would get as high as a kite and listen to it on repeat. It was a soundtrack for many stoned hangovers.
He has continued to make outstanding records with funky punctuation-filled titles and insane song names. Things got more sample driven, dronier, noisier, but the signature lush layered vocals were always center stage. He took the more experimental path as a big indie artist. The fork in the road came and he leaned to the weirder side like Radiohead. No matter how experimental and wild the textures got, the finished product was still beautiful and engrossing. His sense of melody and pure songwriting talent kept the output not only palatable for the casual fan, but also solidified his spot with even the most diehard indie snobs. The new single and forthcoming EP are exciting because while Vernon can do it all, less really is more.
Music, for better or worse, has lost its sincerity. Sure, there are outliers, but artists like Vernon don’t cross over in the same way in 2024. Society now craves polished, smooth-brain music made for television commercials, boutique fitness classes, and, if you really nail it, stadiums. I often make fun of earnestness and sincerity, but something about Vernon and his music has always worked for me. He is the rare case of someone who’s still able to sell a lot of tickets, possesses a die-hard fandom dissecting lyrics and live videos online, gets asked to play Democratic rallies, and still manages to disappear for months at a time to a compound in Wisconsin. He has collaborated with pre-downfall Kanye West (he’s featured on more of Yeezus than you remember), pop’s ultimate indie culture vulture Taylor Swift, and country megastar Zach Bryan. He doesn’t do brand deals on Instagram (his Bushmill’s out of home campaign that haunted Williamsburg for a solid year is well in the rearview) or sit front row at fashion shows. He is almost universally beloved for just making great music. He is in a league of his own.
