Welcome back, gentle readers! Let’s
get right to the review, shall we?
Disc 1092 is…I See a Darkness
Artist: Bonnie
Prince Billy
Year of Release: 1999
What’s up with the Cover? If you think this cover lacks
cheer, wait until you hear the record.
How I Came To Know It: After being introduced to Bonnie
Prince Billy I was quickly drawn to this record because it had “I See a
Darkness” on it, which I knew from Johnny Cash’s cover on “American III:
Solitary Man” (reviewed back at Disc 687).
How It Stacks Up: I have four Bonnie Prince Billy albums. Of
those four, I put “I See A Darkness in at third best.
Ratings: 3 stars
When an album has songs with titles like “Another Day Full of Dread” and “Death to Everyone” you shouldn’t be
looking for an up-tempo joy-fest, but on “I See A Darkness” indie folk rocker Bonnie
Prince Billy takes somber to a whole new level.
This is a sad, quiet record, and while there are
moments of triumph, they are fleeting and spring primarily from the recognition
that the world is a rough place, and we might as well celebrate while we can.
The opening track “A Minor Place” is about as upbeat as the Bonnie Prince (real name:
Will Oldham) manages. It has such uplifting lines as:
“The scars of last
year’s storm
Rest like maggots
on my arm.”
If you were an optimist (I am) you’d note that
maggots help clean a wound, so that’s…er…good news. The song is a pretty little
melody where Oldham expresses that while he’s going to approach the next 38
minutes of music from a dark perspective, it’s home for him, and gives him
comfort. Like the rest of the album, there is a deep frailty in the song, but
at least Oldham is celebrating something.
Later on “Death
to Everyone”, Oldham is pleased to note that this will in fact happen to us
all. But before he gets to the punch line, Oldham describes the world’s worst
date. On it people watch each other age, balls burn and the lady wears black
and possibly only one shoe (also black). It is all worth it, though because:
“Death to everyone
Is gonna come
And it makes hosing
Much more fun.”
If you’re not familiar with the term ‘hosing’ the
song seems to imply a couple of meanings – one related to getting drunk and the
other to having sex. When Oldham is not singing about death, there is a good
chance he’s singing about sex so let’s cover all the bases and go with drunken
sex. Oldham’s main point is that sex is a lot better when you know you’re going
to have a finite amount of it. You know, because…death.
All of “I See A Darkness’” celebrations are the
darkest possible. Like the woman’s clothes in “Death to Everyone” the album’s predominant colour is black, as is
the mood. Oldham wants us to get as still as possible, contemplate the
foreboding terror of that stillness, and then emerge a little bit wiser. I’m
not sure he needs the wisdom part so much as he wants to establish a mood and
see what happens next.
In support of that mood, the album is recorded in
very muted tones. Occasionally the piano will jangle a bit, or your ear will
catch a clever chord change but the main impact is for the record to sound like
it is being sung from a distance and through ten layers of cheesecloth. Black
cheesecloth.
I expect if you were feeling morose and ready to
curl up all alone with a glass of pinot noir and contemplate your sad fate this
might be a strange kind of fun, but I found the incredible quietness made it
hard to hear the music at all. I played this album at about 25% higher volume
than I usually do and I still had a hard time. Given this album came out in
1999 I could’ve used just a little of all that excess loudness that pop and metal
artists were throwing around the studio at the time.
I know all that quietness is supposed to draw me in,
quiet my mind and let me see the beauty unfurl. However, for every time it
succeeded, another time it would annoy me because I wanted to hear the song
more clearly. Also, to create additional discord a lot of the songs have
echoing vocals coming in just before or just after Oldham sings. I think it was
designed to generate anxiety or heighten tension, but it just felt awkward and
ill-timed.
As for the title track, it is a masterpiece of
self-doubt, with a half-prayer at the end which calls for a better life ahead,
but doesn’t promise it will happen. I prefer the Johnny Cash cover, but hearing
Oldham’s frail high voice deliver it also had appeal.
Something tells me that “I See A Darkness” is a
critical darling, but I think it overshadows other efforts from Bonnie Prince
Billy that are just as thoughtful and much more listenable. If you are a huge
fan of BPB, then you already know this record and are probably mad that I didn’t
rave about how great it is. If you are not yet a huge fan, start with “Ease
Down the Road” or “Palace Music” instead.
Best
tracks: A Minor
Place, Nomadic Revery (All Around), I See A Darkness
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