Matt Sweeney & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – Superwolves
Drag City/Palace Records and Domino – 30 April 2021 (Digital)
Physical Formats Release Date – 18 June 2021
So, the superwolf sightings are true. Since their brief, sensational emergence in ’05, many thought them to be in hiding. But after talk of numbers dropping over the past decade, we’ve now received word that as of the 30th April, Superwolves will be reintroduced into the wild. Soon our concert halls, record stores, even our jazzercise classes, could be alive with the crazed sounds of Matt Sweeney & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy.
Whether under his ‘princely’ title or Palace offshoots, for going on nearly thirty years Will Oldham has lent his singular voice to just short of a hundred and fifty releases. And much like Dylan and Young who set the benchmark before him, no cover is off-limits. Over the course of the pandemic, Oldham and Drag City labelmate Bill Callahan doubled down on their output, pulling us through with their ‘Blind Date Party’ project. Collaborating with a cast of alt-folk all-stars, they recorded renditions of everything from Billie Eilish’s Wish You Were Gay to Hank Williams JR’s OD’d in Denver, the latter starring the unmistakable ‘guitarbage’ of Sweeney.
Long-time BFF of Bonnie, Sweeney first carved out a name for himself with post-hardcore bands like Skunk, Chavez and the short-lived supergroup Zwan. Although he considers his work ethic more relaxed than Oldham’s, his credentials are still quite something, having performed with Tinariwen, Cat Power and Iggy Pop; appeared on album’s by Run the Jewels, Adele and Johnny Cash; produced Viagra Boys, Songhoy Blues and Garcia Peoples; and hosting Noisey’s classic interview series Guitar Moves. Most of this session work actually fell in his lap after the duo’s debut Superwolf became a cult success and caught Rick Rubin’s ear. Listening back, it’s lost none of its magic. Its trickling intimacy seems laser-guided by the searing lead of Sweeney, whilst Oldham’s absurdist imaginings only work the songs deeper.
To say anticipation was high when their single landed this winter then, would be underplaying things. Make Worry For Me, which also opens Superwolves, lurches in with a crooked Bad Seeds lean. The video stars our Droogs dressed in their leathers, holed up in an underground lair plotting their world domination/record release. “There’s hideous demons and creatures at play / Hear and remember, then fold it away / I’ve got monsters inside me that must be born” cries Oldham as the melodrama mounts. Part prayer, part nightmare, it’s a sign of things to come, as the following thirteen tracks feed further into their mystique, proving slippery to categorize even by their standards.
Much like on Superwolf, softly strummed lullabies quickly bare teeth and reveal grizzled underbellies. Good To My Girls could initially sound like a bittersweet ode to a daughter or wife, however upon closer inspection we find its “written from the point of view of a whorehouse madam reflecting on her responsibility for those under her charge.” The lingering minor key chorus of My Popsicle, which is dedicated to Oldham’s daughter Poppy, then ends up one of the most darkly ruminative tracks on the album. Elsewhere, God Is Waiting (which could take its title from the Sufi poem that inspired Richard Thompson’s Strange Affair, referenced in our Songs of Love & Horror review) is a stirring highlight, possibly drawing on Oldham’s struggle with his mother’s dementia. Yet it ends with the startling, “but I’m not waiting no, not waiting anymore / God can f*ck herself / and does / hardcore” Sweeney’s harmony hugging that last line close. Is it a rejection of religion or the natural course of the world?
Whichever way you read it, there are few songwriters that could carry off a lyric like that with such an odd sense of sweetness and sincerity. Perhaps it’s because often Oldham’s writing blossoms out of what he calls ‘nonsense songs’. When discussing how an imaginary conversation with friend Harmony Korine formed the basis for what became I See A Darkness, he said: “In terms of what we do, there’s something about addressing how preposterous everything is in order to avoid being crushed by the weight of everything.” Admitting later, “I’ve spent a lot of time in my life (…) turning aspects of an innate introversion into something that resembles extroversion.”
As ever with Oldham, often there’s no telling wisecrack and divine wisdom apart. Like Callahan and the late David Berman, we find humour and warmth in the darkest of places. For example, Shorty’s Ark (like Squid Eye on I Made A Place) operates as both cuddly nursery rhyme and a statement on climate disaster. A gospel song like There Must Be Someone can engage a listener on another level with the mere switch of a gender pronoun. Bonnie’s twisted little mantras have never felt so at home and for this he’s got Sweeney to thank.
Sweeney’s unique brand of genius and sensitivity as a player compliments Oldham’s songcraft beautifully. No stranger to Eastern electric guitar influences, Hall of Death finds the duo joined by Tuareg rock royalty (Ahmoudou Madassane, Mdou Moctar, Mike Coltun and Souleyman Ibrahim) for a psychedelic safari. Think Fear & Loathing in Agadez, Niger. His acoustic playing also provides the backdrop to two of the finest tracks on the album. The traditional I Am a Youth Inclined to Ramble (which Bonnie may have picked up off his beloved Paul Brady) see’s Oldham on incredible vocal form, trills riding waves of rocky distortion, affectionately referring to himself as ‘Shorty’ throughout. My Blue Suit is another masterclass, recalling the very best of the Cairo Gang era. Some of Sweeney’s Red Dead Redemption soundtrack work even seeps in, giving certain songs a western saloon, flamenco flavour.
Last year Dylan sang, “I contain multitudes” quoting Whitman, a sentiment this sophomore tour de force boldly epitomizes. Equal parts glamorous and grotesque, Superwolves is a sprawling, bewildering frenzy of ideas and emotions, leaving the listener with plenty to unpick. Of their long hit list of collaborations and co-conspirators, Matt Sweeney & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy is surely the deadliest combo.
“Superwolves,” out on Digital & Streaming on April 30, 2021 and LP/CS/CD on June 18, 2021 from Drag City/Palace Records and Domino.
Preorder the album here: http://ffm.to/superwolves
Photo Credit: Jonah Freeman & Justin Lowe