Dawn McCarthy & Bonny Billy

Our review
Customer reviews
Press release

5...according to our Phil on Thu 06 Dec, 2007.

The dark prince Bonny Billy is back with a new album with Dawn Mccarthy. This is classic Will Oldham gear. Beautiful simplistic songs with a complete back to basics lo fi approach. The tape hiss is refreshingly present and it's about as lofi as you can imagine one of his releases being these days. Stark beautiful spacious songs with Dawn adding some haunting wispyness in the background. This is the kind of Will Oldham gear I love and I can't get enough of it. Music from the soul for the soul. Excellent! 'Wai Notes' is CD only and ltd to 10,000 copies apparently all with handmade photo things on the back! Wait til you see the photo as well... it's the best photo of Billy...seriously... it's the beard to die for!

Drag City breaking news… ‘We’re going to release a new Bonny Prince Billy record imminently…’
Limited to 10,000 copies worldwide ‘Wai Notes’ represents the demo’s from Dawn McCarthy (Faun Fables) and Bonny Prince Billy for the album ‘The Letting Go’ (That came out in Europe on license via Domino).

Sales Points:

A must for all those fans who saw Bonnir Prince Bill and Dawn McCarthy perform the album ‘The Letting Go’ togerher on tour in 2007 and for fans in general of that record and these two fine artists…

Here are a couple of key reviews that ran for ‘The Letting Go’

"Moody and introspective guitar ballads are often transformed through the delicate use of a string quartet, with flugelhorn or electric piano matched alongside the violins, viola and cello. And then there's the final, perhaps most important, addition to his musical lineup, the delicate vocal work from Dawn McCarthy of Faun Fables, who either echoes his gently intense, introspective vocals in a higher octave, or adds her own atmospheric embellishments, as on the sparse title track, which features just acoustic guitar and the two voices, and has the sturdy, gently chilling appeal of a great folk song." -Robin Denslow, The Guardian

"But there's a revelation in this tender recording: the devastating prescence of Faun Fables' Dawn McCarthy. Her voice trails and caresses Oldham's every motion like strings, the wind, memories, echoes, lives lost and found. Her bearing on the essence of 'The Letting Go' is glorious, her defiant harmonies convey both bruising intimacy (Lay Here and Love You) and bruised desolation (Then the Letting Go). Crucially, they signify a shift in Oldham's definitions of love: someone is singing these words back at him, as he reaches out- (not) letting go."         -Nicola Meighan, Play Louder

Plus some general artists quotes!

‘McCarthy is the perfect vessel for a Gothic Folk tradition’ UNCUT

“Whether recording as Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Palace Brothers or just plain Palace, WILL OLDHAM, is one of the most enigmatic, brilliant songwriters in America.” UNCUT
“Old Testament troubadour or a Dylan for the digital age? WILL OLDHAM is one of the most perplexing, enigmatic and inspired figures in modern American music.” MOJO

TRACKLISTING

1.   THEN THE LETTING GO
2.   STRANGE FORM OF LIFE
3.   LAY AND LOVE
4.   GOD IS LOVE
5.   THE SIGNIFYING WOLF
6.   THE SEEDLING
7.   I CALLED YOU BACK
8.   WAI
9.   CURSED SLEEP
10.   GOD’S SMALL SONG

3...according to Lars Dideriksen.

I really enjoyed 'The Letting Go'. But this one had me a bit disappointed. Which is odd, because I love the lo-fi sound. What annoys me is that when I listen it seems obvious that Billyboy did these demos on a hissing analogue recorder (which sounds great) and then afterwards Dawn McCarthy added her backing vocals in a reverby hi-fi sound. Even though I enjoy her voice very much I sit there wishing it was only Billy on this one - or she had been there with him when the original tape was rolling.

Rating: 3 out of 5

So, what do you think? Best reviewer each month gets £10 off their next order!