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Rating: Will Oldham aka Bonnie 'Prince' Billy this time has probably made the only type of album he had left to make. With this album, he probably reaches the end and conclusion of a long journey within himself and within his long career as a musician, singer, and songwriter. Wait a moment. Of course, this doesn't mean that his career ends here. There is never a true end, and every end can be considered a beginning, and if we consider his entire career, we can recognize an intimate and existentialist approach to music and lyrics, and those same evocative elements can also be found in this album. But we've always viewed this artist as someone mostly devoted to introspection, and we've almost always placed his songs in rural, almost bucolic settings.
There was naturally no need for him to prove his talent and his ability to compose songs, that's not the point, but I believe with this album he has done something unexpected and something important for his career and his path as an artist and for today's American singer-songwriter music. His operation has been a mediating operation, a transfer. He has indeed transferred all the content of his songs into a different dimension, the open space, the infinity of the cosmos.
Honestly, I hadn't listened to an album like this since the first one by Akron/Family, which is probably the main point of reference I would give to anyone who wants to approach this album, along with some recordings and productions of what was then the deus ex machina of Akron/Family, that damned genius named Michael Gira. But if you listen to the songs on this album, you can't help but recognize and find yourself in that same kind of dimension, a dimension made from the reverb of infinite echoes of sounds and Will Oldham's own voice.
To achieve this result and complete this mission, Will Oldham obviously needed to be accompanied by a very special company. And what could be better than the company of Bitchin Bajas from Chicago, Illinois? Who better than them could guide and accompany him on this journey through space and infinity? 'Epic Jammers and Fortunate Little Ditties' (Drag City Records) is indeed the product of a collaboration between Will Oldham and this band, which turns out to be one of the best in the landscape of experimental music and a certain revival of cosmic music and kraut-rock.
A very prolific band, among other things, particularly creative and not new to collaborations with other artists, making them the perfect integration for Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's purposes regarding this project.
Most of the songs last longer than five or six minutes. The intention is to create an effect of estrangement, a special effect that primarily leads to being accompanied by Will Oldham's soft and evocative voice and later to be swept into an imaginary journey through a river made of consciousness and cosmic light.
Some songs intentionally seek an obsessive repetition of sounds and vocals ('You Are Not Superman', 'Show Your Love and Your Love Will Be Return') precisely to add more strength to this effect and make the listener feel as if wrapped in a muffled capsule. Lulled by the melody that is like a lullaby, you live your entire life and see the future before going back, rewinding the tape of your existence to the beginning, then you are back, inside the maternal womb, in that infinite microcosm that is only your thought and even before you can begin to exist physically. Now sit down, close your eyes, relax, and take a long breath: you are alive, you are still alive and everything around you is real. You can touch it if you want. Everything pulses with life. All you have to do is gather it and let it grow as if it were a flower, in the palm of your hands.
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