Bonnie 'Prince' Billy

The Letting Go

(Drag City)

Record Review by Adam McKibbin

In a recent interview with Dwight Yoakam, Will Oldham called Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy his “Superman suit,” where “Kryptonite can’t touch me.” While his persona is deliberately opaque, his music is often anything but. It’s easy to understand why he would want some extra protection; not only does he lay himself out in his songs, but he’s gotten to the point in his career where he may never quite satisfy the demands of his biggest fans, who all but expect instant classics, leading to comments like “Well, it’s awesome, but it’s not quite as good as I hoped.”

It would be a shame if expectations got in the way of the enjoyment of The Letting Go, an album of poignant ache and grace. The big themes—love, death, sex—grapple with one another again, and love fares pretty well this time around. Of course, it’s not always a simple victory. “You call on god and god is dead,” he sings on the gently orchestral opener, following that by singing the song’s title: “Love comes to me.”

The Prince is not alone on his journey, though. He shacked up in Reykjavik this time around, and found some accomplices who add lots of layers to The Letting Go. Dawn McCarthy is the most noticeable collaborator, even contributing her own arrangements to “Then the Letting Go.” She adds dramatic harmony vocals throughout, culminating in “I Called You Back,” a sweet ode to time-tested love (“Every time we kiss / We find ourselves in love again”). Björk collaborator Valgeir Sigurdsson was enlisted for recording and mixing, and although there obviously isn’t much Björk-ness to The Letting Go, it’s safe to say that Sigurdsson knows a thing or two about helping singular songwriters get the most out of their material. Bonnie & Co. come across crystal clear, and Superman has seldom sounded better. Perfect for the solitary reflections of late night—and almost just as good for the lazy lounging of lovers in the morning.