As tipped here last week, Justin Vernon‘s Bon Iver project will release its first new song in four years on Friday (Sept. 20). “S P E Y S I D E” has been performed live on six occasions since 2022; its studio version features Vernon on guitar and vocals and longtime collaborator Rob Moose on viola. It was produced by Vernon and Jim-E Stack, with an accompanying video directed by Erinn Springer arriving Friday as well.
“When I made this song, I was feeling a lot of guilt, which is an important emotion to have,” Vernon said during an early rendition of the track on Oct. 26, 2022, in London. “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 friends who are here tonight. I’m thankful to have a friend to send a song to, you know? You can’t just put that shit on MySpace anymore.”
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“I know now that I can’t make good / but how I wish I could go back / and put me where you stood,” Vernon sings. “Nothing’s really something / now the whole thing’s cooked.”
“S P E Y S I D E” is expected to appear on a new Bon Iver album from Jagjaguwar Records, but no further information has yet materialized. It will be the follow-up to 2019’s I, I, which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Folk and Independent Albums charts and No. 3 on the Top Alternative and Top Rock Albums tallies.
Written by Vernon with Ryan Olson and BJ Burton, “S P E Y S I D E” follows the 2020 Bon Iver one-offs “PDLIF” and “AUTC.” Vernon has also appeared on songs by several other artists in recent years, including Big Red Machine, the National and Zach Bryan.
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