In April of 2025, Justin Vernon released “SABLE, fABLE,” the fifth studio album under the name Bon Iver. In 18 years since exploding onto the scene with “For Emma, Forever Ago,” the LP Vernon wrote alone in a cabin up in his native Wisconsin, the artist who cannot be effectively attached to any one genre collaborated with the likes of Taylor Swift, Kanye West and Travis Scott.
“SABLE, fABLE” was an act of freedom for Vernon — freedom from expectations and a way to explore music differently.
That is according to Vernon himself, and that is music in a nutshell. It’s how a musician like Vernon shares his thoughts and feelings with the world. However, once it transitions from artist to public, the meaning shifts. Once it loads onto streaming platforms and the vinyl pre-orders ship, that singular meaning intended by the creator unlocks millions of new meanings for every set of ears who listens.
Monday, in Columbus, Ohio, those new meanings come together at The Album Club — a brand new monthly meet-up at The Scatter Joy Project.
The Album Club is the brainchild of Alex Lewis, a writer, poet and creator. Read Lewis’ work on his Substack “Feels Like Home” and there is something there for everyone. Lewis covers topics ranging from sports to ways to grow a writing following without wanting to die.
On October 9, it was an essay about “SABLE, fABLE.” Nearly six months after the album’s release, it still had a lion’s share of Lewis’ attention.
“Why do I love this album so much?,” Lewis told Columbus Calling. “It came out in April, it’s kind of become embedded into my life over the past few months. What is it? I know it sounds good, and I know the writing is good, but I feel like there has to be a little bit more than that to where it be becomes something that I have a deep personal connection to.”
Lewis’ search for answers turned into a conversation with his friend Zachariah Thompson, the founder of The Scatter Joy Project.
The Scatter Joy Project is a non-profit whose focus is solely on mental health resources. While the organization has a storefront location on North High Street, only a couple blocks south of Skully’s Music Diner, its mission stretches far beyond selling apparel, coffee and throwing regular events.
When The Scatter Joy Project brings in money, it goes right back out in the form of mental health resources like a crisis text line and paying for 3-6 therapy sessions for people seeking help.
Lewis and Thompson discussed how the artist could bring people together to discuss music each month, similar to a virtual album club Lewis is part of at The Chordinnation. Think of it like a book club but for music.
“I really enjoyed it as someone who’s been a part of book clubs before, and I’m a pretty slow reader, so having a monthly book club was always a bit of a challenge for me,” Lewis said. “I’d get finished with that one meeting and try to go and read the next book, and then by the time the book club came around I was still not finished, and it just became a thing where I was like, ‘I don’t feel like I can show up to this as fully as I would want to.’”
Music is a completely different story for Lewis. As an avid music listener with a spreadsheet outlining all the albums he listens too, complete thoughts and emojis reminding him of his thoughts and feelings on each one, bringing that virtual album meetup to life was a no-brainer.
“Music is this deep love for me,” Lewis said. “I’m an album listener. I just love listening to a full project. I don’t really do a lot of one off songs or singles or anything like that. I really like to sit with an album and be able to think about it. It’s what my friends and I are texting back and forth about.”
Now those texts come to life at The Album Club, and people responded. Lewis announced the new monthly event on October 20 and by the next day, over half of the 45 spots were filled. Now, with less than a week until the first discussion, there are none.
While music is the focus of the conversation, Lewis’ deep love shows in his preparation for the fist album club meetup. On top of his own questions to lead discussion, Lewis shared seven links to podcasts, videos and articles about the album to help participants’ understanding of Vernon’s thoughts behind “SABLE, fABLE.”
That is not to shift listeners’ own meanings applied to the LP but to help reinforce those feelings. Listening to music is not only to put a good sound between your ears but a means to strengthen mental health and community.
“One in three American adults would consider themselves lonely,” Thompson told Columbus Calling. “How do we get people connected, and not connected in how we view connection now of followers and likes and engagement online, but actual face-to-face, eye-to-eye, voice-to-voice connection in the same space?”
Alex Lewis reading to the crowd at The Scatter Joy Project. – Photo by Bridgett Lee
Through The Album Club, the goal is to grow relationships and bring an energy to the room in a way that is possible through art. The by-product of that energy is improved mental health.
“Anything that I do creatively, it’s really toward a goal of helping us see one that like we’re not alone, but also to be able to hopefully create deeper bonds of connection among people. It’s easy nowadays to like be isolated,” Lewis said. “There’s a level of individualism, particularly in American culture today, that can be pretty harmful and lead to some really unfortunate ends. And so for me, like it’s a small thing, but one, I think music is one of these things that, you know, people build commonalities around.”
Lewis’ bond to Bon Iver’s “SABLE, fABLE” helped the artist get through a time in his life where questions arose about the institutions that were his foundation. In his essay about the first Album Club LP, Lewis beautifully talks through the changing emotions surrounding those former strongholds in his life and how Vernon’s words provided a hopeful way forward.
It’s guaranteed that everyone will get something different from the album and starting Monday at The Scatter Joy Project, there is a place for all of them to co-exist. For Lewis, it is not about setting expectations for how the first club meetup is going to go, but letting each attendee find their own meaning.
“Everybody comes in with their own sense of what they’re needing, what they’re hoping for, what would make for a good experience,” Lewis said. “We’re not going to be able to maybe please everybody, but what we can do is at least open up the doors to somewhere that’s cozy— a cool inviting place to be. And hopefully be able to treat people with respect, be able to have an opportunity for folks to be able to express themselves.”
Lewis and Thompson met online two years ago and formed a relationship that quickly went from the internet to the real world. Thompson enlisted Lewis to join The Scatter Joy Project’s “Studio Stories” series, an event where artists from both around Columbus and around the country get behind the microphone and share their craft. Afterwards, they talk about how it intersects with mental health.
That means the pair of creators have spent a lot of time together as The Scatter Joy Project’s grown into the creative mental health company that it is today. Through that work, Thompson does not see anyone better at running The Album Club than Lewis, who is “the perfect person” to bring ideas together.
“Not only is he innovative within his insights about the creative arts, but also on the same time, what people don’t experience within his writing is the space that he can hold for other people’s perspectives,” said Thompson. “I think his greatest superpower is to be able to organize a group of people to prop them up, to give them a voice, to give them a platform, and then to hold space for them.”
Monday night at 7:30, the Scatter Joy Project will host the club and will have their drink service going for patrons to grab a coffee or latte for the discussion. The storefront has a “pay what you can” model, so nobody is shut out from the full experience. Music fans can come grab a coffee, buy a shirt and know they have supported a company with improved mental health as their goal. All that and a robust conversation around one of Lewis’ albums of the year.
What happens after the first meeting? Lewis is not expecting to be the master of ceremonies for December, January and beyond. After all, it’s not Alex Lewis’ Album Club. Instead, it will be another person’s turn to choose a record and let the community give it a listen.
“I think the question is ‘what’s the one album you want everyone to listen to?’” Lewis said. “And so I’m excited to see where that can go to. So I don’t know what the second album is yet, but I’m excited to see where we go with it.”
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