Bon Iver Returns to the Cabin on “Speyside”

On Bon Iver’s new song, “Speyside,” Justin Vernon returns to the sound of an isolated cabin.

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Not so much the physical space but the headspace and foundation of Bon Iver. According to a press release, Vernon wrote “Speyside” in 2021 as “an apology to a couple of people” he has “loved and hurt.”

It’s the first song released from Bon Iver’s upcoming EP Sable (rendered as SABLE,), due October 18.

Feeling Guilty

Before a 2022 performance of “Speyside,” Vernon told the audience at London’s O2 Arena, “When I made this song, I was feeling a lot of guilt.”

He added, “Which is an important emotion to have. It’s also an important emotion to put yourself past. The day I wrote it, I got a little drunk on rum and sent it to a couple of friends who are here tonight. I’m thankful to have a friend to send a song to. You can’t just put that sh-t on MySpace anymore!”

It serves to suffer, make a hole in my foot
And I hope you look
As I fill my book
What a waste of wood
Nothing’s really happened like I thought it would

“Speyside” recalls Bon Iver’s debut For Emma, Forever Ago, specifically “Skinny Love.” It’s one of Bon Iver’s defining songs, but more so, “Skinny Love” is profound—its guitars, off-kilter; its emotion, anchored by brutal honesty. It’s the indie folk North Star to artists like Taylor Swift and Zach Bryan.

During the chorus of “Skinny Love,” Vernon pleads: And I told you to be patient / And I told you to be fine / And I told you to be balanced / And I told you to be kind. But here, “Speyside” sounds like Vernon’s future self, now full of regret, looking back on the warnings he ignored. The “I told you so’s” of “Skinny Love” suggest the emotional failures and scars on “Speyside.”

But maybe you can still make a man from me
Here on Speyside Quay
With what’s left of me
As you live and breathe
I really know now what had hold on me

Folklore

The stripped-down track also features longtime collaborator Rob Moose on viola. Moose is a Grammy Award-winning arranger and multi-instrumentalist who began working with Vernon on Bon Iver’s self-titled 2011 album.

When Vernon joined Swift on Folklore’s “Exile,” they recorded an anguished duet. “Exile” swells with tension, the cascading voices blaming each other over a rigid piano. The doomed relationship is both sad and fatalistic.

“Speyside” is the end game of that fate. It’s Vernon admitting defeat. He sounds devastated on the recording, and even more so in the music video—a grainy black and white clip of the singer in bed, staring at the ceiling as the curtains behind his head receive the wind from an opening.

Later, Vernon is seen staring at the sea. Another abyss. That’s the sentiment of “Speyside,” a hole, a void, another chasm. You can say you’re sorry, but the guilt is often too heavy to bear alone. But “Speyside” is the sound of Vernon trying to come back.

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