We got a new Bon Iver album, SABLE, fABLE, earlier this year. Unfortunately, it could end up being the final Bon Iver album, as Justin Vernon indicated in an interview.
In a chat with The Times, Vernon said, “I’m tapped into the emotion of music — the blue part. I have that in me thanks to the thousands of musicians I’ve absorbed, and they’re just in there. But I don’t know how much is left. I’ve expelled a lot of it.”
When asked if that means there will be any more Bon Iver albums, he said:
“I would be very surprised. For the first time since I was 12, I’m not writing songs. There aren’t any in here [his heart]. I have been writing since puberty and this is unfamiliar territory — but I am accepting it. It’s scary sometimes, but I’m just letting it happen.”
Of course, this mindset could just be a symptom of how Vernon was feeling at the moment. SABLE, fABLE, after all, arrived six years after the previous Bon Iver album, so he has seemingly felt creatively tapped out for extended stretches before, or has at least been OK with not releasing new LPs for years at a time.