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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
The prolific prince of the indescribable, Will Oldham has shapeshifted his way through album after album of delicately profound Americana. It's often said that the mark of genius is the ability to be unbearably moving with very little, and Oldham's shortcomings as a singer and musician are also his greatest strengths. His music is elusive, resisting categorisation: you can call it folk, you can call it alt/country, but Superwolf, last year's collaboration with Matt Sweeney, was all smouldering sexuality and yearning blues.
This album is cooler and sweeter, recorded in Reykjavik under the aegis of Bjork collaborator Valgier Sigurdsson. The arrangements are more complex than perhaps we're used to from a Prince Billy album - strings, flugelhorn and piano spin a subtle but strong tracery of shapes around the musical themes. Singer Dawn McCarthy of Faun Fables provides an airy soprano counterpoint to Oldham's fragile growl, adding a clearer outline to many of the odder melodies.
The songs are as various as ever. Album opener Love Comes To Me is almost unbearable tender, breathing belief in human love in a world where religious faith has been lost. Cold and Wet has a bluesy, lubricious feel. No Bad News is redolent of 70s golden-age folk, Oldham's close-miked murmured intimacy contrasting with McCarthy's layered birdsong. Strange Form of Life has such a powerful instrumental hook that it seems more like a lead-off single than the haunted, Superwolf-like Cursed Sleep.
After a bit of a mid-section sag, the album really hits its stride again with the earthily rhythmic Seedling. The track which follows, Then The Letting Go is utterly exquisite, with McCarthy's vocal responses soaring like Sandy Denny's in The Battle of Evermore.
Perhaps the most accessible Bonnie Prince Billy album so far, The Letting Go will bewitch both old and new enthusiasts of Will Oldham's beguiling and inexplicable talent.
as published at subba-cultcha.com
This album is cooler and sweeter, recorded in Reykjavik under the aegis of Bjork collaborator Valgier Sigurdsson. The arrangements are more complex than perhaps we're used to from a Prince Billy album - strings, flugelhorn and piano spin a subtle but strong tracery of shapes around the musical themes. Singer Dawn McCarthy of Faun Fables provides an airy soprano counterpoint to Oldham's fragile growl, adding a clearer outline to many of the odder melodies.
The songs are as various as ever. Album opener Love Comes To Me is almost unbearable tender, breathing belief in human love in a world where religious faith has been lost. Cold and Wet has a bluesy, lubricious feel. No Bad News is redolent of 70s golden-age folk, Oldham's close-miked murmured intimacy contrasting with McCarthy's layered birdsong. Strange Form of Life has such a powerful instrumental hook that it seems more like a lead-off single than the haunted, Superwolf-like Cursed Sleep.
After a bit of a mid-section sag, the album really hits its stride again with the earthily rhythmic Seedling. The track which follows, Then The Letting Go is utterly exquisite, with McCarthy's vocal responses soaring like Sandy Denny's in The Battle of Evermore.
Perhaps the most accessible Bonnie Prince Billy album so far, The Letting Go will bewitch both old and new enthusiasts of Will Oldham's beguiling and inexplicable talent.
as published at subba-cultcha.com
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
While this isn't the definitive BPB album [there is nothing here to match the majesty of I See a Darkness, for example], The Letting Go is a fantastic record, and one that rewards repeated listens.
At times it sounds very similar to Master and Everyone, Oldham's last album proper [before his Dylan-esque live album Summer in the Southeast and the collaborations with Matt Sweeney and Tortoise].
The difference here, and one that has polarised opinion, is the addition of Dawn McCarthy, who provides harmony on most tracks. Personally I think she sounds great, especially on Strange Form of Life and Lay and Love, for example. The overall sound is also rich and many-layered - a world away from the starkness of Oldham's early Palace recordings.
So, if not quite a masterpiece, then another fine album from one of America's greatest songwriters.
At times it sounds very similar to Master and Everyone, Oldham's last album proper [before his Dylan-esque live album Summer in the Southeast and the collaborations with Matt Sweeney and Tortoise].
The difference here, and one that has polarised opinion, is the addition of Dawn McCarthy, who provides harmony on most tracks. Personally I think she sounds great, especially on Strange Form of Life and Lay and Love, for example. The overall sound is also rich and many-layered - a world away from the starkness of Oldham's early Palace recordings.
So, if not quite a masterpiece, then another fine album from one of America's greatest songwriters.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
don't know what all you naysayers are going on about. It might even be my favourite Will Oldham album - yes, including There Is A Darkness. Deffo the best thing he's done since then, at any rate. Having read reviews I was expecting the backing vocals to drown out everything, but they are well-placed in the mix throughout. Aren't they? Well, I like it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
not bad
the album has a strong opening which unfortunately doesn't carry through into the rest of the songs. Read more
Published on 31 Dec 2009 by A. CRAIG
Baked Alaska
Will Oldham welcomes Dawn McCarthy of Faun Fables on guest-vocal duty for this frosty release, which is paradoxically easier to love than its predecessor, Master And Everyone,... Read more
Published on 7 May 2009 by Gannon
Not the Masterpiece It So Wants to Be
All the stars seem to perfectly align on "Cursed Sleep" and unfortunately nothing else on The Letting Go comes close to matching the lush, epic, crescendo arrangement and... Read more
Published on 20 Oct 2006 by DMc
Frequently played in my house!
This is just what you'd hope from BPB at his best: Proper, grown up music, full of subtlety and charm.
Published on 4 Oct 2006 by SWM
Disappointing
I agree with the previous reviewer - the choice of backing vocalist seriously detracted from my enjoyment of this record. Read more
Published on 27 Sep 2006 by Patrick Kirk
Complex and beautiful
'Letting Go' is a significant step for Oldham, it is sung mostly as duets and features more instrumentation and variety than the minimal earlier albums. Read more
Published on 25 Sep 2006 by B. A. Woodhouse
God Awful Backing Vocals
God Awful Backing Vocals absolutely destroy each and every song. The backing vocals are unbelievably bad totally unoriginal making this record un listenable. Read more
Published on 21 Sep 2006 by Sean Canavan
More than just Bonnie....beautiful
Just for the record (no pun intended) I am a big Will Oldham fan and I would probably give him 4 stars for coughing. Read more
Published on 18 Sep 2006 by old willham
Delicate, shockingly beautiful
This record caught me unprepared. I've been an Oldham fan for nearly 10 years, and loved many of his albums - those of recent years have been excellent (e.g. Read more
Published on 11 Sep 2006 by Matthew Kirkcaldie
Outstanding return to form from visionary genius.
The first song 'Love Comes to Me' begins with a string quartet - a beautiful intro to a great song that sets the pace for the rest of the record. Read more
Published on 31 Aug 2006 by Rob_Young
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