John Wilson directs How To-style music video for Bon Iver's new single

"Everything Is Peaceful Love" is a lovely, upbeat track and the first new single off Vernon's forthcoming SABLE, fABLE.

By Emma Keates  |  February 14, 2025 | 10:00am
Photo courtesy of Bon Iver and John Wilson
Music News Bon Iver
John Wilson directs How To-style music video for Bon Iver's new single

Justin Vernon is delivering the goods for Valentine’s Day. (Why should we expect anything less from the man who gave us “Skinny Love” all those years ago?) Today, the singer-songwriter behind the Bon Iver moniker released not only a new single from his forthcoming album, SABLE, fABLE, but also a truly delightful video from filmmaker John Wilson. That’s way better than chocolate or flowers.

The video is essentially a mini episode of How To With John Wilson, the dearly departed HBO docuseries in which Wilson creates some real magic by stitching together videos of people (and in this case, a few very cute pets, a handful of terrifying masks, and one caveman statue) taken on the street. In typical meta How To fashion, the video even begins with a grainy shot of the email asking Wilson to create that piece that we’re about to see.

“I knew what kind of record I wanted to make the day we made ‘Everything Is Peaceful Love.’ I always knew that would be the feeling I wanted to share first,” Vernon wrote of the new song in a press release. “I wanted the video to just be people smiling uncontainably. Luckily, Eric Timothy Carlson suggested getting in touch with John Wilson from How To With John Wilson. Simply the most poignant and hilarious program in all of Television.”

“We were extremely fortunate that John liked the idea,” Vernon continued. “He went out, shot a bunch of fun stuff, and edited it all to the song. It gives me what I want for this album, all in one video. The idea that happiness and joy are the highest form and the true buoyancy of survival, and even taking yourself less seriously could heal the world.”

The single itself is a smooth, easy listen. It’s departure from the self-searching darkness that made up Bon Iver’s SABLE, EP, but still a stripped-down version of the sound the artist had been exploring over the course of his last few full-length releases.

“Everything Peaceful Love” and the rest of Bon Iver’s forthcoming tracks will combine with the SABLE, EP to make a complete, 12-song record. “Where SABLE, is a sparse and solitary reckoning with a pain that long-defined the past, fABLE looks towards a vibrant future filled with light, purpose and possibility: a partner, new memories, perhaps a family,” the artist said of the album. SABLE, fABLE releases in full April 11.

 
Join the discussion...