#4 on the 2025 Bacon Top 31 — Bon Iver

January 28, 2026 by Royal Stuart in 2025, Top 31

SABLE, fABLE by Bon Iver

The other day in a group of long-time friends, the question “who is your favorite artist, based on your Top 31 reviews since it began?” came up. I hesitated in answering, opening the door for my friend Ryan (he whose name is frequently dropped within these posts) to snap call “The National.” At the time, I thought that was likely the right answer, but I needed to confirm. So just now I asked ChatGPT, “What musical artist is mentioned the most throughout the website baconreview.com?” and it responded “Short answer: Aaron Dessner (and, closely tied with him, Justin Vernon / Bon Iver) is almost certainly the most-mentioned artist figure across The Bacon Review.” And then it dove into a longer answer it titled “🥓 The Bacon Review is heavily “National-verse” coded” complete with the bacon emoji. I’ve never felt more seen by a non-human entity.

It is with that clear bias in mind that I dive into the review of my #4 album of 2025, Bon Iver’s return-to-form fifth album, SABLE,fABLE. It’s been six years and an entire pandemic since the last Bon Iver album came out (i,i was #9 in 2019). We’ve seen other incarnations of Bon Iver (or Justin Vernon, the driving force behind the band)¹ in the interim, including his collaboration with The National’s Aaron Dessner as Big Red Machine, whose 2021 album How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last? was #2 in 2021, along with guest appearances with Taylor Swift (#4 in 2020) and The National (#2 in 2023).

Where my love of bands like The National is rooted in consistent, predictably-good dad rock, my love of Vernon and Bon Iver lies more in his unpredictability. If I see his name attached to something, I can almost always count on it being great. But what I can’t count on is what it will sound like before listening. Quiet acoustic tenderness; loud cacophonous digital soundscapes; a buttery high falsetto; a gruff baritone — Bon Iver have been perfecting all of these distinct and distinctly different sounds over the last two decades.

In addition to their 2019 album mentioned above, Bon Iver has been scattered all over the Top 31 since I started charting albums in 2009. I loved their 2009 4-song EP, Blood Bank EP, so much that I included it at #17 in 2009. Their Best Alternative Music Album Grammy-winning album Bon Iver, Bon Iver landed at #6 in 2011 (I distinctly remember the ensuing “Who the hell is Bonny Bear?” that immediately followed their win). And in 2016, their album 22, A Million was my #1 album that year. SABLE,fABLE is a combination of everything that is great about all those older albums, yet the differences in soundscape hold together throughout the album in a way you wouldn’t think possible.

The album starts with four(-ish) songs that were originally released as a 4-song EP titled simply SABLE in October 2024.² After the 12-second digital tone track that opens the album, the three songs that follow (“Things Behind Things Behind Things,” “S P E Y S I D E,” and “Awards Season” (featured in the video above)) harken back to the acoustic, quiet sound from the early-days of their fantastic debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago, through the 2009 EP and 2011 self-titled album. All three songs have a video directed by Errin Springer, a Wisconsin-based photographer and videographer. Written and recorded during the pandemic, the songs create what Vernon has called a “triptych”:

“They feel like an equidistant triangle, a triptych. It’s three, and it couldn’t be longer. It runs the gamut from accepting anxiety to accepting guilt to accepting hope. Those three things in a row. There’s no room for a prologue or an epilogue at that point. Because that’s it — that’s what everything is.”

From there, the fABLE portion of the album brings in the rest of the band for a more full, all-encompassing set of songs. The 2nd song on this disc, “Everything Is Peaceful Love” (the video was directed by John Wilson, from the great HBO Max series How To With John Wilson, which Vernon calls “Simply the most poignant and hilarious program in all of Television.”), features a rinky-dink drum machine and a robust chorus. Song there, called “Walk Home,” has a machine-affected voice in the chorus evoking later Bon Iver.

Bon Iver (or as my eight-year-old daughter once requested to hear, “Boney Eye-ver”) and producer Jim-E Stack (who also produced Lorde’s fantastic Virgin back at #14) go fully into Vernon’s love of digitally-manipulated sound structures in the fourth song, “Day One”. The song features Dijon (whose own fantastic 2025 release, Baby, would have been on this list if it were the Top 40 rather than Top 31) and Flock of Dimes (aka Jenn Wasner, who has appeared at #12 in 2021 as well as at #9 in 2018 as part of her other project, Wye Oak). The video shows people auditioning to take over Vernon’s place as Bon Iver after he has “announced his retirement.”

“From,” the fifth song on the album, has a definite late-twentieth century vibe, evoking similarities to Vernon’s collaboration with Bruce Hornby on the last Bon Iver album. The video has an equally-dated appearance, recorded straight-to-VHS (or doctored to appear as such) and featuring Vernon as the for-hire driver of a white stretch limo from the 80s. Danielle Haim (from HAIM, who appeared at #19 in 2021, and whose 2025 album I Quit Tour barely missed this year’s Top 31) sings backup on “I’ll Be There” and gets a “featured” on the following song, “If Only I Could Wait,” two of the more pop-driven, accessible songs on the album. The last two songs bleed into one, as reflected in the joint video for them both. “There’s a Rhythm / Au Revoir” feels like the best way to wrap up a phenomenal album. They’re slower, winding down an album that’s felt heavy, emotionally, if not actively so.

If you’ve got some time on your hands, I recommend checking out the DVD Commentary that Vernon and producer Jim-E Stack put together for the album. It has lots of great insight into the making of the album, including learning that “Awards Season” (likely my wife’s favorite song of 2025) was originally going to be entirely a cappella, or that Sylvan Esso’s Amelia Meath (#16 in 2020, and #19 in 2017) is sampled in the background of the song (from a song called “Miles Away” that she did with artist Phil Cook, who also happens to be Vernon’s best friend and who taught Vernon to play music, as we learn in the commentary). Watch the commentary, and you will, like me, be continually amazed at the deep gravel of Vernon’s natural speaking voice as you listen, given how ethereal his falsetto resonates throughout the entire Bon Iver catalog.

SABLE, fABLE will get lots of replay into the future around my house. This is a fantastic album, and if it weren’t for three other arguably-even-more-fantastic albums from 2025, this would have been an easy #1. Vernon has been at the top of his game since he started recording music at the end of the twentieth century. Here’s to hoping we get to hear his lovely music for at least the next 25+ years, as well.

^{1. It is impossible for me to separate Bon Iver the band from Justin Vernon, the person. So I will often refer to he/him in the singular even when referring to the band as a whole↩}
^{2. Annoyingly, on the vinyl version of the album, those first four songs, the SABLE side, are split across side A and B on LP1, and are to be played at 45rpm. The rest of the album, the fABLE side, has 9 tracks broken across side C and D on LP2, meant to be played at 33rpm. The mechanical switch between 45rpm and 33rpm necessary to play the album in its entirety takes me out of my element enough to force these two LPs into separate musical realms. Maybe that someone jarring separation was intentional?↩}

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#4 on the 2023 Bacon Top 31 — Caroline Polachek

January 28, 2024 by Royal Stuart in Top 31

Desire, I Want to Turn Into You by Caroline Polachek

Every year for the past few years the Bacon Top 31 family has latched onto a single dance/pop-driven woman-led artist that has carried us through the year. Last year it was Beyoncé, the year before that, Japanese Breakfast, Sylvan Esso in 2020, 2019: Lizzo, 2018 had three, with Chvrches and Janelle Monáe and Christine and the Queens all in the Top 10. 2023 was no different. Caroline Polachek’s unbelievably good Desire, I Want to Turn Into You is the Bacon Review’s most-loved pop album of 2023.

Caroline Polachek has been around the music scene for quite some time, but only in the last 4 years or so has she started to see the kind of attention her presence deserves. You may remember her from her ’00s and ’10s band Chairlift, whose biggest hit was in 2009 (“Bruises,” which you may recognize thanks to its repeated refrain “I tried to do hand stands for you.” Just watch that video and see a mid-20s Polachek doing her thing). While remaining in Chairlift, Polachek released her first solo album, Arcadia, under the pseudonym “Ramona Lisa.” Chairlift released their final album in 2016 and broke up after their final tour in 2017, but not before Polachek had released her second solo album, Drawing the Target Around the Arrow, this time under her initials, CEP, while also appearing on other artist’s work, such as Charlie XCX.

But it wasn’t until 2019’s Pang, released finally under her full, given name, where Polachek started to find her real niche. I haven’t listened to Pang, yet, but my sources (aka: online music sites and wikipedia) tell me it was “well-received” and “critically acclaimed.” My first recognition of the “Caroline Polachek” version of Polachek came in 2021, shortly after she released the single “Bunny is a Rider.” It’s a fast-paced, ear-worm of a song, and if you watch the video you’ll hear why I instantly fell in love with it. Throughout 2022 she released a handful of additional singles: “Billions,” “Sunset” (featured above), and “Welcome to My Island.” By the time Desire, I Want to Turn Into You was released on Valentine’s Day, 2023, thanks to those early-released singles I’d already played a third of the album on repeat for the better part of a year.

“Sunset” is the standout for me. Flamenco-inspired, the song features an auto-tuned Polachek singing an otherworldly, wordless chorus. The song came out just two weeks before Season 2 of one of my favorite shows, White Lotus, came out on October 30, 2022. I don’t remember which I heard first: “Sunset” or the theme song to the show, but the two songs will forever be entwined in my brain. Listen for yourself (the video for “Sunset,” above, and the theme song to White Lotus Season 2), and I dare you to not feel the two songs were both made by some alien intelligence trying to seduce us.

A lot of the songs on the album put some affectation on Polachek’s voice that may make you think she couldn’t possibly produce the range on her own. Thankfully, we have her Tiny Desk Concert from October 2023 to prove us otherwise. She has the range and the talent — the affectation played into the album is there merely for added affect.

Despite her age (38) and the length of time she’s spent in the industry, there’s still some subtle awkwardness in how she moves in her videos. Watch the only other video she’s released from the album, for her song “Smoke,” and maybe you can see it, too. That extremely-subtle-but-still-there uncomfortableness in dancing for the camera reminds me of Taylor Swift. No matter how big or comfortable with they get with being in the spotlight, there’s something endearing about that little bit of “I’m just a regular person like you.”

Polachek may very well just be getting started with Desire. But after a nearly 20-year career in the music business, this could very well be the mountaintop that she chooses to exit the spotlight from, going out very much on top. That would be ok, too. She has proven to be a chameleon, capable of multitudes, and I am here for it.

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#12 on the 2021 Bacon Top 31 — Flock of Dimes

January 20, 2022 by Royal Stuart in Top 31

Head of Roses by Flock of Dimes

In the immortal words of G.O.B. Bluth, I’ve made a huge mistake. Well, maybe not huge, but one I’m certainly not proud of. Head of Roses, the third release from Flock of Dimes, came out back in April, and I’ve been enjoying it immensely for the last eight months. That’s not the mistake – quite the contrary, in fact. However, also for the last eight months, I’ve been thinking, and even saying to multiple people who I recommended the album to, that Flock of Dimes was the solo project of the lead singer of Sylvan Esso.

Insert the game show buzzer sound here.

Turns out, Flock of Dimes is not Amelia Meath’s solo project. It is in fact Jenn Wasner’s solo project. Jenn is the lead singer of Wye Oak. To my credit, if you put the two bands side-by-side, they do sound very similar. Even more to my credit, Wasner recorded this Flock of Dimes album with Nick Sanborn, the non-Amelia Meath half of Sylvan Esso. So who can really forgive me for mistaking Wasner for Meath? Moving on…

I do love Head of Roses. And I love Wasner’s voice here every bit as much as I did on Wye Oak’s excellent album The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs, (#9 in 2018). Learning that Roses was made by half of Wye Oak and half of Sylvan Esso makes perfect sense. Sanborn’s production isn’t as heavy handed as Andy Stack’s Wye Oak production, and Flock of Dimes is more guitar-y than your typical Sylvan Esso album. Roses sits squarely in between — a Sylvan Esso or Wye Oak album straight from the metaverse, perhaps never having meant to be, but here now thanks to Dr. Strange’s magic spell. Or, you know, maybe Wasner just wanted to work with Sanborn, or vice versa.

The song shown in the video above, “Hard Way,” is the most subdued song on the album. If you want more of that heavy Wye Oak guitar, check out the video for “Price of Blue”. There’s also a great video for “One More Hour,” a song that sits squarely in the middle between those two.

Don’t sit on Flock of Dimes (or Wye Oak, or Sylvan Esso). Head of Roses is Wasner’s third solo album, and ninth total album when combined with her Wye Oak output. And it’s her best yet. Hopefully 2022 will bring another Wye Oak album, and then we can start the cycle all over again.

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13. The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows by Damon Albarn
14. Collapsed in Sunbeams by Arlo Parks
15. Loving In Stereo by Jungle
16. Flying Dream 1 by Elbow
17. Screen Violence by Chvrches
18. Blue Weekend by Wolf Alice
19. Mainly Gestalt Pornography by Pearly Gate Music
20. Peace Or Love by Kings of Convenience
21. These 13 by Jimbo Mathus & Andrew Bird
22. Mr. Corman: Season 1 by Nathan Johnson
23. Home Video by Lucy Dacus
24. I’ll Be Your Mirror: A Tribute to The Velvet Underground & Nico by Various Artists
25. Siamese Dream by Fruit Bats
26. NINE by Sault
27. Observatory by Aeon Station
28. The Monster Who Hated Pennsylvania by Damien Jurado
29. A Beginner’s Mind by Sufjan Stevens and Angelo De Augustine
30. Where the End Begins by Knathan Ryan
31. Private Space by Durand Jones & The Indications

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#16 on the 2020 Bacon Top 31 — Sylvan Esso

January 16, 2021 by Royal Stuart

Free Love by Sylvan Esso

We’ve reached the apex of the curve, the middle point of the Top 31, and I couldn’t be happier to announce Sylvan Esso is strongly holding the #16 spot. On its surface, Free Love may sound quite similar to Grimes’ Miss Anthropocene, reviewed yesterday, but listen closer. Grimes’ has a knack for dark and gritty dance music, but where Sylvan Esso truly shines is crisp and clear vocals on top of crisp and clear melodies. There’s absolutely nothing gritty about Free Love.

I mean it when I describe them as “crisp and clear.” Put on some headphones and give the song “Free,” featured in the video above. It’s a very quiet tune, as if Meath is standing right next to you, barely singing directly into your ear. Listen for the movements of her tongue and lips in the recording — it’s all there, and it’s magical.

There are quite a few videos out for the album, which hasn’t been the case for most albums on the Top 31 this year (I assume because Covid made it quite difficult to pull a video crew together). I could have chosen any of these as the signature song to feature with this review:

“Frequency”
“Ferris Wheel”
“Train”
“Rooftop Dancing”

Sylvan Esso is two people, Amelia Meath on vocals and Nick Sanborn on the instrumentals, with both of them handling the production. Meath and Sanborn have been playing together since 2014, and they married in 2016. They’re adorable, and so is their music. They’ve been on the Top 31 once before, with their second album, What Now, having hit #19 in 2017. If they keep producing records like this, they’ll be on every Top 31 to come.

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1. Saint Cloud by Waxahatchee
2. Fetch The Bolt Cutters by Fiona Apple
3. Punisher by Phoebe Bridgers
4. folklore + evermore by Taylor Swift
5. Untitled (Black Is) + Untitled (Rise) by Sault
6. RTJ4 by Run The Jewels
7. Shore by Fleet Foxes
8. Serpentine Prison by Matt Berninger
9. The Ascension by Sufjan Stevens
10. Making a Door Less Open by Car Seat Headrest
11. Dreamland by Glass Animals
12. A Hero’s Death by Fontaines D.C.
13. Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez by Gorillaz
14. Mordechai + Texas Sun EP by Khruangbin
15. Introduction, Presence by Nation of Language
16. Free Love by Sylvan Esso
17. Miss Anthropocene by Grimes
18. 3.15.20 by Childish Gambino
19. Women In Music Pt. III by HAIM
20. The Third Mind by The Third Mind
21. Superstar by Caroline Rose
22. Impossible Weight by Deep Sea Diver
23. We Will Always Love You by The Avalanches
24. Ultra Mono by IDLES
25. Visions of Bodies Being Burned by clipping.
26. Thin Mind by Wolf Parade
27. The Loves of Your Life by Hamilton Leithauser
28. Palo Alto (Live) by Thelonious Monk
29. color theory by Soccer Mommy
30. Fall to Pieces by Tricky
31. Quarantine Casanova by Chromeo

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#19 on the 2017 Bacon Top 31

January 13, 2018 by Royal Stuart

What Now by Sylvan Esso

The album in at #19 would have fit right in on the 2015 Top 31, when Chvrches’ Every Open Eye was #1 and bands like The dø and Purity Ring were in the top 15. It was the year for indie girl-led pop. Sylvan Esso, a duo from Durham, North Carolina, are definitely in that mode. Their eponymous debut album came out in 2014, but failed to make my radar that year even though it was fairly popular (I can’t possibly hear every good album that comes out, right?).

What Now is their second album, and it is full of treacly indie pop goodness. The best song from the album, “Die Young,” is shown in the video above, but there are a number of other great songs (and videos: “The Glow,” “Radio,” and “Kick Jump Twist”) on this record. If you’ve liked any of the band names mentioned thus far, you’ll love Sylvan Esso. Beyond that, there’s not much more I can say.

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20. 50 Song Memoir by The Magnetic Fields
21. Plunge by Fever Ray
22. DAMN. by Kendrick Lamar
23. Capacity by Big Thief
24. The Tourist by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
25. CCFX EP by CCFX
26. Woodstock by Portugal. The Man
27. MASSEDUCTION by St. Vincent
28. On the Spot by Hot 8 Brass Band
29. A Deeper Understanding by The War on Drugs
30. Planetarium by Sufjan Stevens, Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner, & James McAlister
31. A Moment Apart by Odesza

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