The problem with committing mentally to writing a Bon Iver album review — and believe me, the music’s quality and calibre is worth it — is it’s very hard to do it justice. The mastermind behind the monicker, Justin Vernon, is an unstoppable creative freight train, who cruises so delightfully and reaches the ultimate sonic destination every time. Reliably flawless. So therein lies the difficulty with adequately penning why he’s done well again with studio record number five, ‘SABLE, fABLE’.

From your standard cassettes and vinyls to hats, basketballs (to complement in-game launches), smoked salmon (yep, you read that right), coffee, beer, fragrance and SO MUCH MORE, the collaborations in support of the release have been mad. And wildly addictive to keep tabs on! Go all in or get all out, I guess. 

An eerie, ringing, white noise starts proceedings — a little Wes Anderson in its sound. You’re then drawn into the harshly plucked strings of country-esque ‘THINGS BEHIND THINGS BEHIND THINGS’, which delivers Vernon’s voice much more deeply than we’re used to. The calm before the sad-girl-anthem storm, perhaps, as ‘SPEYSIDE’ follows. And I did well not to burst into quivering tears while listening to this on the train when giving the album its first full play through. It harks of ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’/OG Bon Iver days. Or maybe more goosebump-inducing, throat-tightening and tenderly still, his second record. Oh, I could cry at the drop of a hat to ‘Bon Iver, Bon Iver’, even now, years on! The ultimate show of musical beauty, it was. And ‘SPEYSIDE’ smacks so gently yet purposefully of those same 2008 and 2011 notes. Possibly by way of a clever — or expected — thanks to fans for their ongoing support? Or, more likely, just Vernon doing what he does best. And yet, that painfully relatable line, “nothing’s really happened like I thought it would” stands so boldly amid the rest of the song’s familiar-sounding lyrics. 

The next track I find particularly gripping is ‘Walk Home’. Those squeaky, high-pitched, autotuned main-hook vocals are juxtaposing against the previous sombre songs, but this still possesses a softness. And do I detect very hidden-away female tones in the chorus? Something I’ll circle back to…

The jaunty ‘Day One’ (with Dijon and Flock of Dimes) is a really captivating number, and one that reminds me somewhat of old Kanye offerings. The almost choir-style harmonies gifts it this biblical feel, and I dig it. Very much one for the replay list.

Either second to or in joint first with ‘SPEYSIDE’, ‘From’ is a spellbinding favourite of mine. Pacy and uptempo yet wistful, it’s got all the hallmarks of a Bon Iver classic, just without the mellow, archetypal sadness. I’m left humming along within milliseconds of that sugary chorus kicking in, and I’m only too glad to add this to my queue again and again.

I said I’d circle back, so, it’s worth me positing that Danielle Haim has some vocal input on the catchy ‘I’ll Be There’. Though, curiously, she isn’t credited. So I could be wrong. Yet, she is on one of the key campaign-leading singles, which you’ll already know; ‘If Only I Could Wait’. These two are equally gorgeous, enrobed in all their melodic charm. 

And if you thought that was all for the nods to past xylophone chimes and keyboard tinkles from Vernon’s back catalogue, ‘There’s A Rhythmn’ leaves a sweet taste in the mouth, before ‘Au Revoir’ rounds things off. 

There’s not much more to say than, get listening to it — or continue to. Give it the props it deserves, because this man is a modern-day genius, and the ultimate conductor of melancholic electricity. 

If you only download one track, let it be: ‘From’