Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Wolfroy Goes To Town (Drag City)

Will Oldham has had a long and varied career in entertainment. He has acted in a slew of independent films. He took the photo that would become the cover of the classic album Spiderland by Slint. But most people know his work in music nowadays under the pseudonym Bonnie “Prince” Billy. With Wolfroy Goes To Town, his ninth under the BPB moniker, Oldham returns to good old-fashioned stripped down melancholia. The recording is very intimate, leaving BPB vulnerable and he doesn’t flinch. No emotion is left corked. The album’s tone is set instantly with the declaration of perpetual loneliness, “No Match,”. That opener, as well as “Black Captain,” and others, is given a lot of added weight by his guest chorus. Standing out and shining from that group is Angel Olsen, whose own outstanding Strange Cacti EP was released earlier this year. Her beautiful, trembling vox lifts the spiritual crisis of “Time To Be Clear,” and the wonderful single and album apex “Quail And Dumplings,”. “Quail,” offers the one major tempo and volume change as it lashes out and vows change. The record is full of unsettling beauty and unabashed emotion. It is not for the faint of heart. Don’t be afraid to let it in.