More than five years have passed since Bon Iver’s last album, “i,i” was released, so it’s fitting that the opening of this new indie folk EP, “Sable,” arrives like a siren, warning the listener of some intensity ahead.

The pitter-patter of the percussion on the first full track, “Things Behind Things Behind Things” precedes a high-pitched cascade of minor-key finger picking. Then frontman Justin Vernon’s natural baritone follows with a restless announcement, “I would like the feeling/ I would like the feeling/ I would like the feeling/ Gone.”

Emotions and reflections around nature, nostalgia, relationships and religion have long lived at the heart of Bon Iver — first heard on 2007’s debut album, “For Emma Forever Ago.” For all the Grammy nominations, world tours and features with a variety of stars, Vernon has never felt comfortable with his fame or the accompanying pressure to fulfill a certain persona he has experienced. That’s evident on “Sable,” made up of a droning intro and just three complete songs.

“I get caught looking in the mirror on the regular/ What I see there resembles some competitor,” Vernon laments in the opener, a song written during the pandemic. There’s anguish in the crescendo as he sings about a fear of change, then a more hopeful tone as the music softly winds down into the next track, “S P E Y S I D E.”

Vernon is briefly joined by violist Rob Moose, but it is otherwise a back-to- basics man-and-guitar sound that would’ve fit well on his debut album. There’s none of the falsetto that set it apart, but the music and words mesh well as a chilling expression of an attempt to restore something.

The only problem is it doesn’t keep going.

The final song, “Awards Season,” is more poem than melody.

Saxophonist Michael Lewis chimes in, but there’s a lack of the sonic richness that has defined Bon Iver’s music. For Vernon, the reset is surely complete. For everyone else, “Sable” will leave fans wanting more. — Dave Campbell, Associated Press

The perilous journey home — it’s a tale as old as “The Iliad.” Now it’s a dynamic concept album starring hip-hop legends, Broadway belters and, of all things, the New York subway system.

“Warriors,” built on the 1979 cult classic movie, is an inventive song cycle by “Hamilton” mastermind Lin-Manuel Miranda and Pulitzer finalist Eisa Davis, an album that has deployed musical talent brilliantly to tell another story of going home, at the intersection of musical theater and popular music.

The movie follows the street gang the Warriors as they make their way from The Bronx to their home turf of Coney Island in Brooklyn while being hunted by rivals gangs and cops. Miranda and Davis have kept the bones of the story but made strategic changes in genders, like making the Warriors all women, played by theater veterans Kenita Miller, Sasha Hutchings, Phillipa Soo, Aneesa Folds, Amber Gray, Gizel Jiménez, Jasmine Cephas Jones and Julia Harriman. They all give it an extra buzz, beautifully emotional in just a few words.

Surrounding them is an astonishing list of artists playing various parts — Lauryn Hill, Nas, Busta Rhymes, Billy Porter, Ghostface Killah, RZA, Marc Anthony, Colman Domingo and Joshua Henry among them.

Miranda and Davis offer a musical journey along with their narrative one — the sounds of salsa, ska, agro-rock, boy band, pop, old-school rap and even K-pop. Spanish and Korean mixes with the English. It’s a diverse buffet, reflecting New York.

Some of the 26 tracks are fragments, some hushed, others fully formed and some hysterical. “Warriors” is a portrait of a mean, tough city with determined residents bound together by frustration with their transit system. The creators have said they have no plans for a stage version, and you can hear why: It’s all on the album already.

The Warriors are in many ways a metaphor for us as a nation: “All we got is us/ The people who ride with us, side by side with us/ We’re all on the same train home.”

Take a trip with them — it’s a great ride. — Mark Kennedy, Associated Press