in the light

Bonnie "Prince" Billy - For Every Field There Is a Mole
Lie Down in the Light (Drag City, 2008)
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Despite all of Will Oldham's subversions of his original persona--the name changes, the strange collaborations, the weird covers of R&B songs, and a cameo in R. Kelly's ridiculous soap opera, just to name a few--I've always associated his music with a particular imagery, that of old farmhouses, darkened stables, and lonesome, windswept hills. Lately, Oldham's songs are a lot less likely to evoke these bleak and unsettling landscapes than they are to bring to mind more tranquil outdoors and intimate settings like the bedroom. The shift can be traced back to sometime around 2001's Ease Down the Road, and subsequent Bonnie "Prince" Billy albums have always retained elements of this newer focus on peaceful, epicurean pleasures. For better or for worse (slightly worse, in my opinion) it seems this year's BPB release, Lie Down in the Light, moves even further in this direction. These songs are bathed in a soft light rather than howling wind and darkness.

The relative simplicity of Lie Down in the Light also makes me realize how much I miss the cryptic poetry of his earlier albums. The ambiguous (and sometimes incomprehensible) narratives were such a large part of the music's appeal. But I digress. . . . Lie Down in the Light is still a gorgeous album. It's not the stuff of dreams and nightmares, but it does have some of Oldham's most appealing melodies to date. I like the stripped-down tunes on Master and Everyone (2003) a bit more to the thicker instrumental arrangements found on this album, but Lie Down in the Light is certainly his best, and most accessible, material since. The Will Oldham who fretted over matters apocalyptic and supernatural in lo-fi glory might be gone for good, but the trademarks of his expert songwriting--aching and reflective verses, spirited sing-a-long choruses, and transcendent, fast-fading codas--are still in evidence. And for that I'll be glad.