5/5
Under the moniker of Bonnie ‘Prince’
Billy, Will Oldham released his 17th studio LP ‘Wolfroy Goes To
Town’ in October of this year. This record is as densely packed as Oldham has
ever released in some parts, but there is still quite a bit of space between
the instruments, giving them room to manoeuvre at those times. Wolfroy is a
very communal album, his band are far more apparent here than ever before. It
feels like a family; there is as much emphasis at times on the instrumentation
as on Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy himself. Lap steels and organs sing beside
him, Angel Olsen wails with vocals just as demented as Oldham’s own, unlike in
the past when the female singers were the antidote to his absolute oddness.
Wolfroy Goes To Town continues
Billy’s alternative country legacy, with his signature style of delicate, yet
rough vocals and sparse arrangements with contemplative, often slightly cryptic
lyrics. But this album offers more still, from the tribal rhythms of New
Whaling to the revolution-starved march of Quail and Dumplings. The latter is
perhaps one of the most memorable on the record; it is ominous until the joyous
chorus, the harmonies are unstable, Olsen comes in with Siouxsie-esque ululations
leading into a heavy pounding guitar solo reminiscent of the late dirty
rockabilly sound.
Though on first listen Quail and
Dumplings is what stands out afterwards, on further inspection there are plenty
of tender moments of pure soft country. I say “soft” country, but that is with
regard to the music. His lyrics, as always, range from beautiful to harsh and
jarring. The album opens with the defensive No Match, with sauntering guitar
and soft vocals, in which he claims “Age may be a match for you, but it’s no
match for me” after tenderly stating “You can be a match for me, I’ll be a
match for you”. Oldham explains in New Tibet how he and his friend “shook
[their] God” when “As boys, we fucked each other”. He grasps attention with
this before leading us to a beautifully simplistic melody before a chorus of
suddenly empowered voices.
This album was not only one of the
best of 2011, but possibly the best Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy album since Master
and Everyone or perhaps even I See a Darkness. It is up among the best
alternative country records in the last decade. Oldham never fails!
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