BONNIE (PRINCE) BILLY & MATT SWEENEY
Superwolf
Drag City
· Full moon musics.
Bonnie (Prince) Billy and Matt Sweeney approach Superwolf in the shadows of two mighty disappointments: Bonnie's re-recording of Palace's Greatest Palace Music was a bit too polished and pristine (the best of Palace has always been in the mistakes), and Sweeney's inexplicable involvement in Billy Corgan's bloated Zwan project ended with name-calling and a lot of guitar wank no one (not even they) seemed to care about. As such, expectations were low for their album as a duo.
And so, the pair retreated to a cabin somewhere out in the woods and wrote (going out to the woodshed, as it were) through a snow-capped winter. Billy (a.k.a. Will Oldham) wrote the lyrics and Sweeney responded with the music, with the results more than capably erasing their missteps and resetting the decks entirely in their favour.
Superwolf is the type of record that will age gracefully. In fact, it won't age at all. Falling somewhere between the Smithsonian-style minimalist folk Oldham has most recently mastered on Billy's Master and Everyone, and the finest slow-dance ballads ripped from the best midnight drive records of the ’70s, Superwolf is just about perfect. Album standouts "Beast For Thee," "My Home Is The Sea," "Blood Embrace" and "Bed Is For Sleeping" alone will ensure that Sweeney and Oldham’s names remain forever synonymous with genius.
I think I owe these guys an apology. (Sorry guys. Good work.)
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