Matt Sweeney and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
Superwolf

After the trip to Nashville with "Greatest Palace Music", the restlessness of "I See A Darkness" returned to the heart of the "Prince" Billy. And you can tell right away from the album cover. Amidst a few pastel strokes (a memory of the sea, perhaps, which appears in two poignant tracks), a bloodied hand worthy of a splatter stands out. But this blood is a metaphor, that existential pain that emerges as a trademark from Oldham's finest vocal cords, from his cracked voice, from lyrics distilled into poetry and hermeticism.
And so the first track, which immediately hits hard. "I often said I'd like to be dead..." And perhaps it matters little that shortly after it is added, "in the mouth of a shark".

Oldham's themes are strong. Death. In "Death In The Sea" (one of the most touching ballads ever written), Sweeney's guitar nobly and cleanly accompanies a text worthy of the best Leonard Cohen. Destiny. In a dreamy "Beast For Thee", Oldham sings over Sweeney's arpeggios "God's plan can easy bruise..." Anger, betrayal. In the masterpiece of the album, in that "Blood Embrace" that sinks in the quicksands of a theme repeated to obsession for almost eight minutes. Regret. In "Bed Is For Sleeping" which proceeds up to the questions for which there are no answers: "And where are you going?/And why are you leaving?/Left on a walkway/To swallow my grieving".

And Sweeney? Answers "Present" at roll call. And just listen to "Goat And Ram". The electric hurricane ravages the soul, thundering one riff after another. Finally, unmissable, is "Only Someone Running". Oldham's voice cracks with emotion, attacking "There Things I Will Not Do..." And there is one thing we will never do, Will. Miss a single one of your albums.
5 stars because more is not possible.