Bonnie Prince Billy / Wolfroy Goes To Town / Palace Records / 2011

New heartfelt folk/country from Bonnie, his most mellow stuff yet.
Slow, possibly inebriated after Sunday mass and heartbroken; hits ya righ’ der’, ya know?
Some good stuff - electric/accoustic guitar, shakers, some electric piano, synths, and pump organs, his clear emotive voice, with various other great female vocals backing him give. Great lyrics, dramatic and poetic.
This stuff could bring a grown man to tears I’m tellin’ you.
His quote on the inside cover is: “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” Make what you will of it.
Don’t be intimidated by the initial slowness, most of his songs start very simply, just his vocals and acoustic, but about midway there’s pickup with other vocals and instruments.
Perhaps similar to Leonard Cohen in terms of style, along with his backups (but not voice, his is more androgynous).

FCC on 4, 8.
Favorites: 1, 2, 3, 6,

1*: “No Match” (5:55) - Slow at start, pickup at halfway with his strong clear voice, great backups, numerous instruments. Drags out his lyrics in that lovely folky way.
2*: “New Whaling” (5:39) - A more simple and quite acoustic song, but truly lovely vocals and backings. Very easy to close your eyes and shake your head with a “mmhmm” (it’s a heartbreak song).
3*: “Time to be clear” (4:04) - Very quite and slow. About God not listening enough, but with a great female humming and guitar rift at 2:30. “Lover o lover please buy me a beer and bring all your enemies here”.
4: “New Tibet” (4:32) - Folk music takes a political stand on Tibet. Yes! but FCC!
5: “BLack Captain” (6:35) - Slow, very simple, main focus is on the lyrics. At halfway, pickups with vocals.
6*: “Cows” (4:55) - Neat lyrics, biblical irony. Dramatic, very slow (dramatic pauses) with nice duets in vocals. Starts with very few instruments, and picks up at 3:15 with new instruments (electric) and vocals. Grande.
7: “There Will Be Spring” (3:32) - No real pickup besides the tone of his voice. Deep and mysterious.
8: “Quail and Dumplings” (4:57) - Great title! This one is great, catchy, has numerous other backup vocals (really great), and pump organ, with very catchy guitar. My favorite. FCC at 2:17! Play in safe harbor, it’s worth it. (most lively one)
9: “We are Unhappy” (6:46) - Very sad and pessimistic in lyrics, talks about the cruelty of God and nature (is that an FCC?). Nice tune, just sad.
10: “Night Noises” (3:28) - About dealing with life in 2011 I assume. Life’s hard eh. Soft (slight pickup at 2 min though).