Album of the Week – 11/04/25

It’s very hard to complain in a sun-soaked Dublin! And we’ve also got lots of sun-soaked sounds for you to enjoy, including The Album Leaf (Rotations), The Mars Volta (Lucro Sucio; Los Ojos Del Vacio), and Röyksopp (True Electric). Check out Nell Smith, with her single Daisy Fields from the album Anxious, her posthumous debut solo album.

For our album of the week, we’ve gone for an old friend. It’s nearly 20 years since Justin went to the log cabin and wrote For Emma, Forever Ago (2007). Where do the years go… He’s just returned with a new album with strange capitalisation SABLE, fABLE. You can hear it below.

Album of the Week – SABLE, fABLE by Bon Iver

“Bon Iver’s three-song collection SABLE, was an act of vulnerability and unburdening. Written and recorded at a breaking point, they were songs of reflection, fear, depression, solitude, and atonement. The word “sable” implies darkness, and in that triptych, Justin Vernon sought to unpack some long-compounded pain. Then, at the tail end of its final track “AWARDS SEASON,” there’s the barest thread of a lighter melody—a drone, a glimmer, an ember, hope for something more. SABLE, was the prologue, a controlled burn clearing the way for new possibilities. fABLE is the book. Stories of introduction and celebration. The fresh growth that blankets the charred ground. Where SABLE, was a work of solitude, fABLE is an outstretched hand.

Compared to the sparse minimalism of its three-song table setter, fABLE is all lush vibrance. Radiant, ornate pop music gleams around Vernon’s voice as he focuses on a new and beautiful era. On every song, his eyes are locked with one specific person. It’s love, which means there’s an intense clarity, focus, and honesty within fABLE. It’s a portrait of a man flooded and overwhelmed by that first meeting (“Everything Is Peaceful Love”). There’s a tableau defined by sex and irrepressible desire (“Walk Home”). This is someone filled with light and purpose seeing an entire future right in front of him: a partner, new memories, maybe a family. “

Albums of Note:

— The Album Leaf – Rotations

— Bon Iver – SABLE, fABLE

— Wu-Tang Clan and Mathematics – Black Samson, The Bastard Swordsman

— The Mars Volta – Lucro Sucio; Los Ojos Del Vacio

— Röyksopp – True Electric

— Sons of Ra – Standard Devitation

— Nell Smith – Anxious

April 11th:

— Abbey Cone – Greener

— The Album Leaf – Rotations

— Bedridden – Moths Strapped To Eachother’s Backs

— Bjørn Riis (of Airbag) – Fimbulvinter

— BLACKWRISTBAND – My Escape

— Bon Iver – SABLE, fABLE

— Bootsy Collins – Album of the Year #1 Funkateer

— Cabal – Everything Rots

— Clutter – Clutter Loves You EP

— Daughter of Swords – Alex

— Dead Pioneers – PO$T AMERICAN

— The Driver Era – Obsession

— ELVENKING – Reader Of The Runes – Luna

— Epica – Aspiral

— Eyedress – Stoner

— Fancy Hagood – American Spirit: The Last Drag

— fantasy of a broken heart – Chaos Practitioner EP

— Fomies – Liminality

— Galactic and Irma Thomas – Audience with the Queen

— Gerald Clayton – Ones & Twos

— Idle Heirs – Life Is Violence

— Johanna Warren – The Night of the Wind EP

— Jon Pardi – Honytonk Hollywood

— Joni – Things I Left Behind

— Kali Malone – The Sacrificial Code (Reissue)

— Ken Carson – More Chaos

— Leatherman – Turn You On

— LL Cool J – All World: Greatest Hits (Vinyl Reissue)

— LL Cool J – Phenomenon (Vinyl Reissue)

— Lullahush – Ithaca

— Magnolia Park – VAMP

— Mamalarky – Hex Key

— Marathon – Fading Image

— Mark Morton (of Lamb of God) – Without the Pain

— Maria Usbeck – Naturaleza

— The Mars Volta – Lucro Sucio; Los Ojos Del Vacio

— Mika Häkki (of Monolord) – Mørker

— Nell Smith – Anxious

— Nellie McKay – Hey Guys, Watch This

— OK Go – And the Adjacent Possible

— Putrid Offal – Obliterated Life

— Ribbon Skirt – Bite Down

— Röyksopp – True Electric

— set dressing – i can’t be alone tonight EP

— SONUM – The Obscure Light Awaits

— Sons of Ra – Standard Devitation

— Spin Doctors – Face Full of Cake

— Tara Nome Doyle – Ekko

— Tapeworms – Grand Voyage

— Teen Mortgage – Devil Ultrasne onic Dream

— Trousdale – Growing Pains

— Turnpike Troubadours –  The Price of Admission

— Valerie June – Owls, Omens, and Oracles

— Various Artists – Chet Baker Re:imagined

— Within Destruction – ANIMETAL

April 12th (Record Store Day 2025):

— a-ha – Hunting High and Low – The 1984 Demos

— Air – Moon Safari Live & Demos

— Alessandro Alessandroni – L’Ora del Cocktail (Vinyl Reissue)

— The B-52’s – The B-52’s (Vinyl Reissue)

— Belly – King (Vinyl Reissue)

— Bill Evans – Further Ahead: Live in Finland (1964-1969)

— Black Sabbath – The Eternal Idol (Vinyl Reissue)

— The Blasters – An American Music Story: The Complete Studio Recordings 1979-1985

— blur – The Magic Whip (10th Anniversary)

— Charles Mingus – In Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts

— CHVRCHES – Every Open Eye (10th Anniversary Special Edition) (Vinyl Release)

— The Cure – The Head on the Door (Vinyl Reissue)

— Cypress Hill – Live at the Fillmore (Vinyl Release)

— David Bowie – Ready, Set, Go! (Live, Riverside Studios ’03)

— The Dream Syndicate – Sketches for Out of the Grey (Vinyl Reissue)

— Fleetwood Mac – Fleetwood Mac (Vinyl Reissue)

— Flying Lotus – Spirit Box (Vinyl Release)

— Geddy Lee (of RUSH) – The Lost Demos

— Gil Scott-Heron – Moving Target (Vinyl Reissue)

— Gorillaz – Demon Days (Live from the Apollo Theater) (Vinyl Release)

— Jeff Bridges – Slow Magic, 1977-1978

— The Jesus Lizard – Flux EP

— John Lennon – Power To The People – Live At The One To One Concert, New York City, 1972 EP

— John Williams – Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (Vinyl Release)

— John Williams – Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (Vinyl Release)

— John Williams – Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (Vinyl Release)

— Joni Mitchell – Live 1976 (Vinyl Release)

— Judas Priest – Live in Atlanta ’82 (Vinyl Release)

— The Killers and Bruce Springsteen – Encore at the Garden

— La Lom – Live at Thalia Hall

— Lemonheads – Lemonheads in Dreamland

— Liam Gallagher – Acoustic Sessions (Vinyl Release)

— Lisa Germano – Geek the Girl (Vinyl Reissue)

— Lou Reed – Metal Machine Music (Vinyl Reissue)

— Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives – Super Junk

— Oasis – Time Flies… 1994-2009 (Vinyl Reissue)

— Passengers (a.k.a. U2 and Brian Eno) – Original Soundtracks 1 (30th Anniversary Edition)

— Pharoah Sanders – Izipho Zam (My Gifts) (Vinyl Reissue)

— Post Malone – Post Malone Tribute to Nirvana

— Public Image Ltd. – First Issue (US Version)

— Rage Against the Machine – Live on Tour 1993

— The Rembrandts – The Rembrandts (Vinyl Reissue)

— The Replacements – Tim (Vinyl Reissue)

— Sting – Sting 3.0 Live

— Sun Ra – Nuits de la Fondation Maeght (Reissue)

— Various Artists – The Virgin Suicides (25th Anniversary Edition)

— Wire – Nine Sevens (Vinyl Reissue)

— Wire – Vien + (Vinyl Release)

— Wu-Tang Clan and Mathematics – Black Samson, The Bastard Swordsman