Theres a song on I Made A Place, the new Bonnie Prince Billy record, that Ive been listening to over and over, retracing the lines, searching for clues. Its called Look Backward On Your Future, Look Forward To Your Past, and its an odd track for singer-songwriter Will Oldham, who has been recording under the Bonnie moniker for more than two decades, because its a linear story-song. Its about a lonely, aging man named Richard who comes across a woman bleeding in the road. Her dying words make Richard reconsider everything he previously believed in. And he becomes inspired to live in the moment. Although it doesnt really end up mattering much since, The history he faced was an ocean made of empty and a destiny you wouldnt want to save.
Like a zany Kurt Vonnegut novel or an evocative John Prine song, Look Backward On Your Future, Look Forward To Your Past is existentially curious and remarkably deft with its dark humor. With a carefully-balanced, details-to-ambiguity ratio, it leads you to where to need to be, then leaves you to color in the lines on your own.
Oldham has the rare ability to make listeners hang on to every word, every phrase, every sentence, out of fear of missing something a small, but defining element of the story, a wry joke or some sharp piece of insight. Its that magnetic quality that shines on I Made A Place. His lyrics bounce through fleeting thoughts and intense feelings with dexterity he can be piercing, funny, witty, sardonic, deeply serious, weird, sad, searching, grateful, mad and optimistic. Throughout the 13 songs on the album, he blazes through a gauntlet of emotions, while making peace with the volatility of life, and the inevitability of death. Its hopeful in honest and striking ways.
I Made A Place is the first Bonnie Prince Billy album of originals since 2011s Wolfroy Goes To Town, but Oldham has been extremely active in the last decade, mostly putting new spins on previously-recorded songs, including albums covering Susanna Wallumrod, Mekons, Merle Haggard and even some of his own old material. I Made A Place features rich country tones and threads of experimental exploration, which are, in part, made possible by some prominent Louisville players such as Joan Shelley (harmonies), Jacob Duncan (woodwinds, keys), Nathan Salsburg (guitar) and Cheyenne Mize (fiddle). The albums breezy, jangly opener New Memory Box is an uplifting song about moving forward. Squid Eye references Aquaman and Ariel in back-to-back lines. This Is Far From Over attempts to find silver linings in impending environmental collapse (When all thats left is sea and sun / A lonely voice says alls not done / Its your child who will be the one / To sing its far from over.) Thick Air is a direct, happy-to-be-here song that promises better times.
I Made A Place is an intricate album that unravels into a massive puzzle. Some of the pieces fit easily and neatly, making sense right away. Some take longer to place. Its an album made for repeat. In an age with a streaming cycle that makes it easy to listen to five records on a Friday and forget about most of them by the end of the weekend, Will Oldham has created something worth remembering, revisiting, digging in to and holding on to. Its a reminder to go to your local record shop.