Duets keep popping up on the music I write about this year, and today’s batch is no exception. Marlon Williams teams up with Lorde, while Justin Vernon duets with several female vocalists. Meanwhile, with only two tracks, Steven Wilson doesn’t have space for a full duet, but his wife provides vocals on The Overview.
Bon Iver
Sable, Fable
2025, 8.5/10
Bon Iver’s first record was a Justin Vernon solo project. He recorded For Emma, Long Ago in a northern Wisconsin cabin during the winter of 2006-07. His smoky falsetto is instantly recognisable.
But he’s moved away from the simplicity of his early work, toward a band sound. Bon Iver’s previous album, I, I, didn’t register strongly for me, but I love this new one. Vernon slows down the tempos, allowing the same emotional impact as his early work.
Sable, Fable includes Bon Iver’s 2024 EP Sable. It’s a three-song EP with Vernon returning to his acoustic sound.
[Sable] is the darkest black on Earth… and it rhymes with ‘fable’. I think it was a look back at this kind of man-in-a-cabin narrative I’ve been absorbing over these years, accepting it in a way. But the rest of the record is sort of me doing whatever I needed to do to be happy, for once.
Justin Vernon on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
But the other songs explore a fuller sound, somewhere between R&B and soft rock. It’s gentle enough to fit nicely with the acoustic songs. Sable, Fable is detailed and full of guests, despite the low-key sound. Mk.gee contributes his distinctive guitar sound to ‘From’, while Danielle Haim duets with Vernon on ‘If I Could Only Wait’.
Vernon’s offbeat enough to deliver songs that would sound unbearably twee in other hands. Songs like ‘Everything is Peaceful Love’ and ‘There’s a Rhythmn’ are gorgeous, with pretty melodies and soulful arrangements.
The R&B syncopation of ‘Day One’ and ‘I’ll Be There’ adds a funkier edge, but are still relaxed.
Sable, Fable is impressive, with Bon Iver also adept at R&B-flavoured pop.
Marlon Williams
Te Whare Tīwekaweka
2025, 7/10
Marlon Williams grew up in Lyttleton, New Zealand. He toured Europe as a member of the choir of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament and started playing guitar in high school.
Williams often sounds like a throwback – his voice can drop into a rich croon, while his musical approach is often traditional and rootsy. On his fourth solo album, he explores his Māori heritage, singing entirely in te reo. Williams attended a te reo immersion preschool, but only spoke English at his primary school. Relearning as an adult, Te Whare Tīwekaweka is the first te reo album by a solo artist to top the New Zealand charts.
Much of Te Whare Tīwekaweka was recorded live in a hundred-year-old wooden structure, made from native timber, in Haast Pass. I’ve been to Haast and it’s remote – a four-and-a-half-hour drive from the nearest city. While Williams’ early music was often soaked in Americana, here it’s thoroughly New Zealand.
It’s less exciting when Williams is in campfire singalong mode, like on ‘Whakamaettia Mai’ – it doesn’t use his rich, emotional voice.
Te Whare Tīwekaweka is Williams’ least musically satisfying album so far, but I’m glad he made it. He reconnected with his heritage, topping the New Zealand album charts as well.
Steven Wilson
The Overview
2025, 8.5/10
Kingston upon Thames’ Steven Wilson is beloved by vintage music fans, as a technician and a performer. He remixed classic albums like Roxy Music and Tears For Fears’ Songs From The Big Chair. He fronted Porcupine Tree, mixing classic progressive rock with post-Radiohead dystopia.
He’s also built up a lengthy solo discography. The previous Wilson record I covered in this column, The Future Bites, stepped too close to pop to play to his strengths. He evidently agrees with me – The Overview is unmistakably prog, with two tracks stretching over forty minutes, and space themes.
The album is based on a phenomenon called the Overview Effect, which is something that astronauts experience when they first go into space and they look back at the Earth. Most reports say that these people, when they experience this, have this very profound cognitive shift, and they understand just how small, fragile and beautiful the Earth is, in relation to the cosmos, and therefore, by extension, just how small and insignificant the human species is.
Steven Wilson, Super Deluxe Edition
XTC’s Andy Partridge collaborates with Wilson on the lyrics. Like much of Wilson’s material, The Overview cleverly combines the melodicism of classic progressive rock with a modern sheen. ‘Objects Outlive Us’ feels somewhere between 1960s Kinks and Dark Side of the Moon, like a nihilistic slice of English life. Meanwhile, ‘The Overview’ is set in space, with synth washes and the pretty ascending melody of “Drifting on through the void/As the permanence of matter disappears”.
The Overview is impressive, the best progressive rock album I’ve heard in a while.
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Nice eclectic mix. Bon Iver was the only name I recognized, though I’ve only heard very few of Justin Vernon’s songs. I can also safely say Marlon Williams is the first artist I ever heard singing in te reo. Overall, I think his music sounds pretty. I also started listening to Steven Wilson’s “Objects Outlive Us” – sounds intriguing. I like the atmospheric vibe!
Never expected you to like Steven Wilson. Objects Outlive Us does have a bit of Kinks/XTC English-slice-of-life atmosphere.
I really enjoy Wilson’s new album, he’s a busy man. Can’t keep up!
Yeah, I missed the last one. He’s got a pretty huge, impressive catalogue at this point.
I have that Steven Wilson album but my cover looks a bit different.
Yeah, I wonder if I grabbed the wrong one – it looks pretty though.
It’s a cool listen too.
Yeah, I listened to it a lot when it was in my review pile – I didn’t really connect with the previous one.
Though I haven’t really followed him much, I’m liking Bon Iver’s new album. And while I wouldn’t care to listen to Marlon William’s new album on repeat, I concede he has a beautiful voice. I’ve known of Steven Wilson for a long while and that’s he’s beloved by many, however I haven’t explored very much of his music. The track you shared is enchanting, and I’ll definitely give the full album a listen. Hard to believe he’s now 57, though he looks a decade younger.
It’s cool you liked Steven Wilson. Bon Iver was pretty big in indiedom with their first couple of albums – the first was just Vernon solo.
I like Bon Iver. Bailey got me into him. It was the first concert he ever went to by himself. I started to listen while he was playing his music in his room. I like Speyside more than I do some of his later work. His voice and everything is clear and I like this a lot.
Doing a back to basics EP and tacking it onto the album is kind of a good move. Sounds like his heart mightn’t have been in making a whole album of it.