Last month, we reviewed Bonnie’ Prince’ Billy’s latest album, Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You (read the review here). In his review, Thomas Blake concludes: Whereas this is very recognisably a Bonnie’ Prince’ Billy album, it is also a calculated, if slight, departure. These songs have a life-affirming quality to them, a willingness to exist in the present, and as a result, this is one of Oldham’s most rewarding albums.
Among the tracks highlighted in that review was Willow, Pine and Oak, which has “a nursery-rhyme approachability that masks a more complex meaning.” Bonnie’ Prince’ Billy recently shared the accompanying video directed by Jacob Forman and featuring the 16mm Photography of Zach Drury.
Forman, who has previously worked with the ‘Prince’ on the music video for “At the Back of the Pit”, had this to say about the conception and execution of the music video:
“When first proposing the video to me, Will posed it as a challenge of sorts— to stray from my typical home of the handheld camera and attempt to capture that same sort of intimacy with a tripod. To “lock it down,” in his words. He mentioned Dreyer specifically as a filmmaker he was thinking about, so ORDET was an early visual inspiration… though over time, as I listened to the song more, I began to think more about the Bergman-Nyqvist collaborations more so as a visual influence. Days before shooting, I remember reading about Pedro Costa’s technique of honing natural light with mirrors, which gave his digital cinematography a striking (almost dreamy) look. This actually ended up working far better for lighting our black and white 16mm shots more than anything, as we were able to create harsh shadows with a beautiful golden early morning sun.”
“Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You” is available now on LP/CS/CD/Digital from Domino Records/Drag City.