Thirty years after Will Oldham presented us with his debut as Palace Brothers by the hand of “There Is No-One What Will Take Care of You” (93) and twenty since he did the same with that particular peak in his career that was “Master and Everyone” (03), it is acceptable that, due to chronology, we have unconsciously deposited a good handful of expectations in his new proposal, at the very least. For now, and knowing that only the whims of time will decide if “Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You” (23) will have a similar importance to those works mentioned and included in his populated and famous career, we can say without fear of being wrong that this is an excellent collection of songs at the absolute level of the best finery of the Kentucky band and so capable of softening us up. the heart as the same.
We refer to the resources used in its twelve tracks: an exquisite storytelling, which presents us with charismatic characters equipped with their own background and voice (“She yanked her dreams down from above her/ she looked a monster right in the eye”sings in the empowering “Rise and Rule (She Was Born in Honolulu)”); a five-star entourage, capable of making his songs go from being mere cuts of folk spirit to pieces of superlative and almost cinematographic beauty (“Trees of Hell”); and a unique way of opening his tormented fate to the world, putting nihilism aside and embracing his most honest and dark side, as revealed in the album’s title itself (“Everyone dies in the end, so there’s nothing to hide”sentence in the initial “Like It or Not”).
Both accompanied and raw, Oldham keeps intact his impeccable ability to create a warm, sober, calm and friendly album. A record that does not ask for haste and that it is not by chance that it has landed on our turntables in the middle of the summer heat, where calm and restlessness, typical of the cloying summer, combine wonderfully with the torrid minimalism of his new albums. themes, devoid of percussion and focused entirely on highlighting an acoustic and contemplative mood that is progressively drawing from the sweet and occasional tonal accompaniments of Dane Waters and a good batch of irresistible string and wind arrangements (“Willow, Pine and Oak”).
Its evident and objective charm will not prevent the most satirical Oldham (“Bananas”) and sometimes naive (“Queens of Sorrow”) also make their respective appearance, validating with their own merits that very precise label of extravagant and encrypted singer-songwriter that he has been earning hard for years. We will not need to understand 100% what he wants to tell us when he sings “Someday, when there’s time to sing / A few of us will gather and raise a voice to anything, because everything matters” (“Crazy Blue Bells”) o “Sharing is nothing to regret / Swallow me wholly, consume all my worth” (“Behold! Be Held!”), since the universe of Bonnie Prince Billy it is so delicate and supine that it is above its own subjective and partial nature. Either because of a melancholic ailment or because of wanting to give summer a note of beauty that raises its level in the middle of the equator, “Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You” is a very notable company and a firm candidate to resonate among the most special and outstanding folk records of this year when it is appropriate to recount.
Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You de Bonnie “Prince” Billy