Bon Iver’s SABLE, fABLE Rollout, Ranked

Myth has always been a core part of Bon Iver’s work. The story of a morose Justin Vernon retreating to his father’s Wisconsin hunting cabin to record 2007’s For Emma, Forever Ago is as much a part of that album’s legacy as any of its deep cuts, and the band’s output has been periodically enshrouded in mystique since. With their fifth album, SABLE, fABLE, Vernon & Co. are once again hard at work building narratives to contextualize the music. But now they’re taking a new approach: an album rollout so whimsical it will make you wistful for 2010s Williamsburg marketing kitsch.

For every traditional element of this release plan — a nerdy, longform interview on the New York Times’ Popcast, a sit-down with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show — there’s another element that is guaranteed to make you say “huh” like you’re encountering a foreign food texture for the first time. And yet, if the purpose of a rollout is to create intrigue for the music to come, even if it’s by sowing confusion, then the mission has been a success. Below, a breakdown of the most notable elements of the SABLE, fABLE rollout, ranked from its least head-scratching — or, rather, beard-scratching — promotional tie-ins to most beard-scratching and everything in between.

Soundtracking the wilderness

No matter how many songs he makes with Charli XCX, Vernon is never going to shake the mountain-man image he created with For Emma, Forever Ago, so it seems he’s decided to do the next best thing and lean in. How else to interpret the fact that he debuted a pair of SABLE, fABLE songs via an unceremonious livestream he set up alongside a Wisconsin hiking trail in October 2024? The video, titled “In Such a Small Time Frame,” is still active at the time of writing, broadcasting to a bunch of tall trees and an unremarkable tarp. Eight people were tuned in.

How much did it make us scratch our beards? None. Clean and moisturized chins over here.

Hi-fi (and lo-fi) listening parties

Bon Iver’s music oscillates between songs for lovers of stripped-down instrumentation and sophisticated gearheads alike, so holding listening parties at the technical and architectural marvel that is the OJAS Listening Room at USM Modular Furniture in New York, and at various parks and outdoor spaces called “fABLE sPACEs,” where the album becomes accessible on your phone, is an extremely on-brand marketing move.

How much did it make us scratch our beards? We’re not itchy; our fingers are just restless.

Justin Vernon, in verse

As a lyricist, Vernon has a knack for crafting the kinds of stanzas that are both specific enough to convey depth and abstract enough to allow listeners to hear their own experiences. His jump to published poet is therefore unsurprising. His collection for the literary magazine Little Engines features original poems titled “Appomattox (the Tenements Caved)” and “Could’ve or Should’ve,” as well as a third poem co-authored with his father Gil Vernon titled “Dementia.” Vernon’s other endeavor into the art form, however, published in The New Yorker, is not an original poem but rather a short verse excerpted from SABLE, fABLE song “Day One.” It’s a bold rollout move to premiere a new song without the accompanying music.

How much did it make us scratch our beards? We’re performatively reading The New Yorker on the L train, and we want strangers to know that it’s making us contemplative.

How To make a music video

To film the music video for SABLE, fABLE’s breakout single, “Everything Is Peaceful Love,” Bon Iver collaborated with director John Wilson of HBO How To With John Wilson fame. The resulting clip, complete with Wilson’s signature found-footage style, is great, but if there is any reason for this pairing other than the fact that Wilson and Bon Iver are both people annoying pseudo-intellectuals like myself talk about too much, it is not clear.

How much did it make us scratch our beards? We’ve got some dandruff we need to shake out.

Bon Iver, fish-fluencer

On paper, teaming up with a brand that sells preserved fish for exorbitant sums seems like a good way to alienate one’s more salt-of-the-earth fans. But have you considered that the color of the SABLE, fABLE artwork is salmon?

How much did it make us scratch our beards? There’s a mosquito bite on my chin.

Releasing the (Todd) Snyder cut

Vernon recently teamed up with famous menswear designer Todd Snyder for a long interview and a clothing-line collaboration to promote SABLE, fABLE. The unlikely team-ups don’t stop there, though. Elsewhere, the band is partnering with brands to put its name on a bespoke cocktail, a gastronomic ice-cream flavor, a signature fragrance, and more. Vernon is basically one conducted-over-email Complex cover story away from being Travis Scott.

How much did it make us scratch our beards? There are multiple mosquito bites on my chin.

Bon Iver’s B-ball jamboree

Yes, the band is hosting a basketball tournament, featuring three games between two teams, the SABLES and the fABLES. Vernon is a big basketball fan, so this doesn’t come completely out of nowhere, but it does sort of paint an unrealistic image of SABLE, fABLE as an album of jock jams to hoop to. “Pass me the rock and throw on that new Bon Iver” just doesn’t compute.

How much did it make us scratch our beards? I have lice. I need medicated beard shampoo.

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