Bonnie 'Prince' Billy Beware (Domino)
4/5
By: Liam Manley
"You are enjoying a promotional copy of Beware by Bonnie 'Prince' Billy", says the voice. And I would be if he didn't keep interrupting me with his cringe-worthy Scots accent (curiously closer to Peter Sellers in The Party than anything north of the border). Understandable in an industry prone to piracy, but Will Oldham has a seductive slow burning quality; an uncanny skill, but not one conducive to such obstacles as "audio drop outs".
When you do manage to get past these intrusions, a world of gentle surprise awaits. Where last B'P'B offering Lie Down In The Light concerned mostly new dawns and rejuvenation, Beware finds cracks developing and anxiety increased. When Oldham opens with "I want to be your only friend", a Greek chorus rises up to counter "Is that scary?". What is initially humorous soon reveals itself to be a telling trait: reluctance towards co-dependency. In the same song, 'Beware Your Only Friend', he succinctly explains "we flail too much/ to let the other near".
We're treated to the softer side of post-split bravado, with 'You Can't Hurt Me Now', as well as the whooping kiss-off of 'I Am Goodbye'. Such feelings are tempered sweetly by 'You Don't Love Me', an ode to finding comfort in the company of one who will "cling to me all through the night". As with LDitL, Oldham relies on impressionistic percussion to simmer and colour rather than a full kit to drive the compositions. The remaining space is burnished by the ragged glory of Emmett Kelly's guitar, or splashes of cornet, marimba and languorous sax.
That the artwork should resemble that of Neil Young's Tonight's The Night is misleading. Initially rejected by Reprise in 1973, and then reluctantly released two years later, TTN is symbolic of a different form of artist/label frisson. Conversely, while Domino are happy to release Beware, Oldham has been employed to undertake increased promotional duties - the deal being that if he can prove any incremental rise in sales is not justified by the expense/effort of the press tour, this will be his final junket.
It's no secret that Beware is likely to be met with near-universal praise and critical acceptance, a trend that's followed him throughout his career. Others may argue that saturation point was reached with I See A Darkness, some 10 years ago. Regardless of such cynical matters, as Oldham suggests on 'My Life's Work', his duty remains "to take you out of the dark/And into the light". To reference another Neil Young record, long may he run.
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