Updated April 14, 2025 at 10:14 AM ET
It's Monday, and that means . For those of us stuck here on Earth, you can expand your figurative horizons with dozens of new albums — including the return of Bon Iver. SABLE, fABLE is the band's first album in almost six years and finds Justin Vernon in a markedly less dour mood.
NPR Music's Stephen Thompson welcomed fellow Wisconsinite Erin Wolf of to discuss the new Bon Iver album, as well as a handful of other new releases worthy of your attention.
Listen to the conversation below, and stream our recommended new albums.
The Starting 5
Stephen and Erin give you the backstory and best songs on the following albums:
💿 Bon Iver, SABLE, fABLE ()
- RIYL: Bon Iver, Bruce Hornsby
💿 Valerie June, Owls, Omens, and Oracles ()
- RIYL: Hurray for the Riff Raff, Joanna Newsom
💿 Gerald Clayton, Ones & Twos ()
- RIYL: Geri Allen, The Flaming Lips
💿 Real Lies, We Will Annihilate Our Enemies ()
- RIYL: Underworld, The xx
💿 Kills Birds, Crave EP ()
- RIYL: Soundgarden, Helmet
New Music Friday is a feature of NPR's All Songs Considered podcast! Hear the discussion on the , , or wherever you get your podcasts.
The Lightning Round
Five more albums we wish we had time to discuss on the podcast:
💿 Turnpike Troubadours, The Price of Admission
💿 Daughter of Swords, Alex
💿 Jadu Heart, Post Heaven
💿 Casper Skulls, Kit-Cat
💿 Nell Smith, Anxious
Listen to each album's best songs on our New Music Friday playlists on and .
The Long List
For those who want to dig even deeper, here are the week's new albums sorted by genre:
Global
- Charif Megarbane, Hawalat
- FloyyMenor, YTSQS
- HHY & The Kampala Unit, Turbo Meltdown
- Kuunatic, Wheels of Omon
- Kwashibu Area Band, Love Warrior's Anthem
- Salif Keïta, So Kono
- Savina Yannatou, Watersong
Rock/Alt/Indie
- Air & Vegyn, Blue Moon Safari
- Bedridden, Moths Strapped To Eachother's Backs
- Cassia, everyone, outside
- Clutter, Loves You EP
- Cold Specks, Light for the Midnight
- Dead Pioneers, Po$t American
- Eyedress, Stoner
- fantasy of a broken heart, Chaos Practitioner EP
- Grandmas House, Anything for You
- HONEYMOAN, Pink Hell
- Idle Heirs, Life is Violence
- Johanna Warren, The Night of the Wind
- Joni, Things I Left Behind
- key vs. locket, i felt like a sketch
- Magnolia Park, Vamp
- Mamalarky, Hex Key
- OK GO, And the Adjacent Possible
- Painting, Snapshot of Pure Attention
- Public Body, Finger Food
- Ribbon Skirt, Bite Down
- Spin Doctors, Face Full of Cake
- Tapeworms, Grand Voyage
- Tara Nome Doyle, Ekko
- Teen Mortgage, Devil Ultrasonic Dream
- The Album Leaf, ROTATIONS
- The Mars Volta, Lucro Sucio; Los Ojos Del Vacio
- The Wrecks, Inside EP
Country/Folk/Americana
- Billy Strings & Bryan Sutton, Live at the Legion
- Jon Pardi, Honkytonk Hollywood
- Kolby Cooper, Love You, Goodnight
- Muscadine Bloodline, ...And What Was Left Behind
- Trousdale, Growing Pains
Rap/Hip-Hop
- Berner, Carbon EP
- Deem Spencer, yung EP
- Ken Carson, More Chaos
- LaRussell, MAKE HIP-HOP FUN AGAIN!
- RXKNephew, Slither Not Slime
- V/A, Gangster Music Vol. 3
R&B/Soul
- Galactic and Irma Thomas, Audience With the Queen
- ADJA, Golden Retrieve Her
Electronic/Out There
- Briain, Cognitive Dissonance
- Carlita, fabric presents Carlita
- Guilherme Granado Goat Unity, Ghost Parades
- isolee, Chopstick! EP
- James Bright, Imaginal
- Konalgad, Club Dream
- Larum, The Music of Hildegard von Bingen Part Two
- Lullahush, Ithaca
- Martinou, Linked EP
- Olivia Font, Invictam
- Proc Fiskal, Canticle Hardposte
- Riccardo La Foresta, ´Ü·¡¸é°¿,999…
- ¸éö²â°ì²õ´Ç±è±è, True Electric
- set dressing, i can't be alone tonite EP
Classical
- Kyiv Virtuosi, Alexey Shor: Composer's Notebook, Vol. 3
- Leif Ove Andsnes, Liszt: Via Crucis & Solo Piano Works
- Nicola Benedetti, Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61
Jazz
- Ingrid Laubrock, Purposing the Air
- Poppy Daniels, Keep On Going
Credits
- Host: Stephen Thompson
- Guest: Erin Wolf, Radio Milwaukee's 88Nine
- Producer: Simon Rentner
- Editor: Otis Hart
- Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
- Vice President, Music and Visuals: Keith Jenkins
Copyright 2025 NPR
