“That was the first time where I was actually, like, really, really, really humbled”: Bon Iver’s new album features a collaboration with Mk.gee, a musician who “reignited something” in him when he watched him play with Dijon on tour

With just a week to go until the release of Bon Iver’s new album, Sable, Fable, eagle-eyed fans have been scanning the credits of the upcoming record to discover who Justin Vernon has been collaborating with.

While Danielle Haim (If I Could Only Wait) and both Dijon and Flock of Dimes (Day One) are the only artists to get full-on ‘features’, tucked away in the writing credits on another track, From, are the names of both Mk.gee and Jacob Collier.

We’re yet to hear what this eye-catching collaboration sounds like - musician and heavyweight songwriter Tobias Jesso Jr was also involved, it turns out - but we already know that Vernon is a big fan of Mk.gee, and has been inspired by his “fresh” approach to music making.

The two artists met when Dijon was supporting Bon Iver on tour and Mk.gee - AKA Mike Gordon - was Dijon’s touring guitarist. The trio took to jamming backstage, and have since become friends.

“It was way too much fun,” Vernon told the New York Times’ Popcast in a recent interview, before indicating that he was taken aback by what he was seeing Dijon and Mk.gee doing on stage.

“That was the first time where I was actually, like, really, really, really humbled,” he says. “Like, I always enjoyed the people we went on tour with, but I was like, ‘Oh, this is fresh.’ What they were doing, it reignited something. It really had me second-guessing - not second-guessing, I love what we did. But it was like, ‘Oh. We’re just about dinosaurs. We’re just about over our own hill.’”

Having got to know him during that time, Vernon goes on to say that he was introduced to Mk.gee’s debut album, 2024’s Two Star & The Dream Police, way before the rest of us got to hear it.

“I went over to Mike's house to hear his record like, you know, a year before it was out or something like that. I was like, ‘Fresh. God, I love it. I can't wait to listen to this all the time.’ And turns out a lot of other people had the same feeling.”

Sable, Fable is released on 11 April.

Bon Iver Got Happy — and Sexy (It Took a Lot of Work): Full Justin Vernon Interview - YouTube

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