Superwolves â their first together since their debut,
Superwolf, released in 2005 and passed around feverishly by acolytes ever since â they cover two songs. One is a spare take on the brutally lonesome âThere Must Be a Someone (I Can Turn To),â written by Vern Gosdin and made semi-famous by The Byrds a half-century ago. The other is âI Am a Youth Inclined to Ramble,â a traditional song that canât be traced back to any specific date but finds its footing in the present day via the Irish folk musician Paul Bradyâs arrangement. It tells the story of a young man leaving to find his fortune in America, fearing that his sweetheart wonât be there when he returns.
New music by Manchester Orchestra, Marianne Faithfull and more
Marianne Faithfull, She Walks in Beauty (BMG)
The elevator pitch for this album doesn t do it justice. The veteran singer, known for 60s cuts such as When Tears Go By, reads Romantic poetry (from Byron, Keats, Shelley and the like) over ethereal soundscapes by Nick Cave cohort Warren Ellis.
Sounds self-indulgent, right? It s anything but. Faithfull s weathered yet still-exquisite voice draws each degree of emotion from these classic lyric lines, and Ellis production proves sublime. This is a serene bit of beauty, a few moments of grace in a world that s too often graceless.
16 years after
Superwolf, the first collaborative album from Will Oldham and Matt Sweeney that combined the former’s cracked country croon as Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy and the latter’s gritted guitar, comes a sequel, of sorts.
Superwolves unequivocally exists in the same soundworld as its predecessor – wearied outlaw soliloquies and playful love songs to kith and kin laced around intensely hushed electric guitar – but is also heavier than last time round.
That’s not to say Oldham’s gone rock, 30-plus years into a career of quiet:
Superwolves’ heaviness is more often implied than enacted, with Sweeney’s guitar playing largely muzzled and hints of feedback swirling in the background of otherwise fairly delicate songs, rendering the likes of ‘God is Waiting’ and ‘Watch What Happens’ as the sort of gothic chamber pop whose ever-present growling low end threatens to erupt at any time, even if it never does.
Matt Sweeney & Bonnie Prince Billy Reunite for Superwolves Album
Get a taste of their first record since 2005 with Hall of Death
Superwolf still standing tall as a fan favourite, the pair are finally reuniting to give us a sequel. The album is logically being titled
Superwolves, and it will arrive digitally on April 30 via Drag City (and physically on June 18).
To get us going, the duo have shared the album s first single Hall of Death, which has been fit with a music video. The track was made alongside Tuareg guitarist and producer Ahmoudou Madassane, as well as Mdou Moctar.
Check out the clip, which was directed by directed by Sai Selvarajan and Jeff Bednarz, below.