Bonnie “Prince” Billy – The Letting Go
Drag City, 2006
Acquired: Love Garden, Used, 2007
Price: $8
There really isn’t a Bonnie “Prince” Billy record that I do not like. I think they all range from very good to outstanding. This one is pretty excellent, finding Will Oldham’s voice accompanied by Dawn McCarthy’s lovely harmonies. It gives songs like “Cursed Sleep” a sort of surreal, uneasy quality that creates specific emotions in my head that make me feel uneasy and at the same time at peace. It’s a beautiful song, and the video is so weird and great! The liner notes feature an extra creepy picture of Oldham with a “Thanks” word bubble drawn, and I think that’s pretty great because in the photograph it looks like he’s about to molest somebody or he just molested somebody. These are just great songs, and this is a great record that again, warrants re-listening on some random rainy day. And it was recorded in Iceland! How cool is that! Also, I wish this was called Then The Letting Go, which it was originally titled, because I’m pretty sure that’s taken from a really fantastic Mountain Goats song. Oldham’s pseudo-title track however, is one of my favorite tracks on the record. Beautiful, haunting, and all the other adjectives I overuse when I’m talking about Will Oldham.
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