My Bonnie Lad
* Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy: Love Comes To Me (6.0 mb) | The Seedling (7.0 mb) | Then The Letting Go (6.0 mb)
From The Letting Go : Drag City Records : DC420
While you can’t quite set your calenders to Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy releases, he does tend to release a great number of albums/singles. Which, in my opinion, is a very great thing. From his early days as Palace (et al) kingpin to using his given name to his mutation as Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, he’s presented a musical vision that has remained remarkably consistent while, at the same time, changing a whole heckova lot. His cracked, pained vocals, sense of humour and desolation have all remained, while at the same time playing with a number of different people and bigger recording budgets.
While I understand the need to change things up, one of my favorite aspects of his older material has been the intimacy involved with the 4-track/crappy recordings. His newer records have been much more produced and have, at times, suffered from that. This one, however, benefits from the clearer production values. Most of the songs feature the beautiful backing vocals of Faun Fables singer, Dawn McCarthy and she provides a brilliant counterpart to Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy.
In fact, The Letting Go is so confident that its strangeness could easily go unnoticed. But this is, in many ways, one of the weirdest records Oldham has ever released. McCarthy’s vocals never really coalesce into a distinct relationship with Oldham’s– she slips in and out of harmonies, backing parts, doubles, and absences. The album’s arrangements are similarly elusive– the string swells and ominous drums on “The Seedling” wash incongruously against McCarthy’s vocals. And yet, nothing ever seems jarringly out of place. (Matt LeMay)
It sounds like Mr. Billy has become much more comfortable in the studio. This is really a beautiful album and perfectly complements the changing of the seasons that we’ve been having in the Windy City.
—–+—–
Will Oldham (Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy) is also in a new movie, Old Joy, that is playing in a limited number of theaters. It’s supposed to be really great.
