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February 15, 2005
bonnie 'prince' billy & matt sweeney :: superwolf
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This is the one I've been waiting for from the good man Will Oldham. Wild, beautiful, both inscrutable and stark. It's a return to the sorely missed spirit of Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's days as the progenitor of Palace [Brothers|Music|Songs], and yet another unique chapter in his discography.
I've come to enjoy the relatively simplified pleasures of his last few discs - Master and Everyone perhaps hinting at a future regained form. But the best Palace records had a left-field quality that we haven't heard in some time - musically more than lyrically - and one sensed that he chose collaborators to push the sound then. Here, former Chavez and Zwan (!)-guy Matt Sweeney does the honors, apparently at a challenge from the 'Prince' himself: "you write music for me to write words to".
On paper, Sweeney seems like the last candidate to provide the gnarled folk-rock that Billy needs, but he's turned out a ringer. Some of the most gorgeous Oldham music since Days In The Wake resides herein - try "Beast For Thee", provided below. Yes, there are occasional muted guitar heroics - check the James Burton invasion halfway through "My Home Is The Sea".
The post-modern naturo-mysticism, with raw sex, that we've come to expect from Will is still the lyrical method. The title character "Superwolf" actually makes an appearance, and lines like "ride my horny horn" are embedded in padding lullabies.
On a completely inconsequential note, the disc has a strange fabric sock that is impossible to stuff back into the sleeve. Totally unnecessary.
Other reviews of this album have pointed out that it's a grower, and I've certainly found that it reveals successively. Cokemachineglow's Peter Hepburn wonders, as I do, if we aren't all writing about this one too soon. On the other hand, Scott McKeating of Stylus blows several hundred words on a goofy Prince comparison.
As an aside, I went back to the much-maligned pro recordings of Palace classics, Greatest Palace Music recently and enjoyed it plenty. Removing a disc from expectations does wonders.
Now the running top 20 gets interesting - this one enters at #4.
My Home Is The Sea (mp3)
Beast For Thee (mp3)
Posted by borrowed_tunes at February 15, 2005 10:33 PM