Nomadic Revery (All Around)вЂ¦ again, just a few quiet piano notes, a soft drum beat, but here thereвЂ™s a certain structure that Oldham uses, which is to start quietly and slowly build the song up, bar by bar into something momentous. It appears on the live album Is It The Sea? (2008). ThereвЂ™s a lovely little faint organ melody at the end. вЂњItвЂ™s not a desert nor a web / Nor a tomb where I lay dead / Minor in a sound alone / Yes, a clear commanding tone.вЂќ At the end, the Oldham-narrator-singer вЂњthanksвЂќ the world that it will вЂњanointвЂќ him, which could mean вЂappoint him as successor to a certain positionвЂ™, but for what deed? The last line: вЂњIf I show it how I hold itвЂќ-suggests that what heвЂ™ll show the world is a subjective position shaped by one manвЂ™s courageous ability to express thoughts most wouldnвЂ™t dare. (1) A tendency towards bathos: вЂњAs we do what we do fine / So victorious, so benign.вЂќ (2) Feeling beaten down by life: вЂњthe job that does me harm / Since the scars of last yearвЂ™s storm / Rest like maggots on my arm.вЂќ (3) Disappointment with others: вЂњThank you man if for the thought / That all my loving can be bought.вЂќ Oldham then explains exactly what he means by a minor place. The verses obliquely hint at reasons to visit a minor place.

Leave us be, because itвЂ™s nice to go there sometimes. ItвЂ™s pretty simple thereafter when we disappear off into our minds for a period of despondent or low mood, weвЂ™re in a minor place.

So, if you think about it, the word works in the chorus no matter which definition you consider, but even better is to consider all three meanings at once. вЂњA Minor PlaceвЂќ is where Oldham began to write songs which opened straight into their choruses: вЂњWell, IвЂ™ve been to a minor place / And I can say I like its face / If I am gone and with no trace / I will be in my minor place.вЂќ The word minor plays on three different meanings: minor as in child minor as in not major-of small concern minor, as in a musical term to denote chords which are somehow less вЂbrightвЂ™ sounding than their major equivalents. On many of the songs here, Oldham doubletracks his vocal which gives the singing an ethereal quality, especially when the two vocal parts are slightly out of sync with each other. The music is kept to a bare minimum, a warm pulsing bass sound. The tune opens on a pretty piano motif which plays counterpoint to the drums. IвЂ™ve always felt like I intuitively understood the lyrics to this song (not something that happens too often), and this is a song where the form and content seem to meld perfectly into one вЂ“ the minor-key melody, вЂњsinging from my little point,вЂќ he tells us. But once youвЂ™re under its spell, wellвЂ¦.ДЄ Minor PlaceвЂ¦ youвЂ™ll find yourself in a minor place, one of my top five Oldham songs. Bonnie вЂPrinceвЂ™ Billy albums take time, they evolve, develop in the case of I See A Darkness, itвЂ™s a slow moon shadow creeping over your soul. ThereвЂ™s no cheap thrills here, no pop savvy, no stroke of genius marketing ploys. Will Oldham albums have always been slow growers for me, usually taking a couple of years before I reach that sweet spot. My experience with I See A Darkness was a period of discovery that took several years before it fully came into its own.

The lyrics here seem to deal mostly with dark- or death- maladies of the mind unusual perspectives on things, the battle between the id and the ego, alternative ways of seeing, passing thoughts that most people would never think to catch, probe, expand on, then turn into songs. The deeper reason is simply because he weds that fatalistic poetry to quietly intense and inventive arrangements and some of the most beautiful but subtle melodies weвЂ™ve heard from him yet. This is perhaps one of the reasons why Will OldhamвЂ™s first Bonnie вЂPrinceвЂ™ Billy album is still regarded as his best by fans and critics. When any artist engages with death as his or her subject matter in an instinctual and sensitive manner lyrically,В it generally gets lauded as an artistic triumph.

Houses a quiet darkness album