Bonnie “Prince” Billy will release a new live album, Ghosts of American Psychonauts, on September 18th (Domino Records). The eight-song set was recorded at The Pico Union Project in Los Angeles over Valentine’s Day weekend 2025, just a few weeks after the release of The Purple Bird. You can listen to London May (Live in the City of Ghosts) — featuring the man London May himself on drums — below.
The performance features Oldham’s touring partners Thomas Deakin (clarinet, down-tuned electric guitar) and Jacob Duncan (flute, saxophone) — both of whom went on to play prominent roles on this year’s We Are Together Again — alongside a generous cast of guests: London May (drums), Emmett Kelly (bass), Ryder McNair (piano), Dv DeVincentis (sax), Patrick Shiroishi (sax) and Dave Ferguson, who produced The Purple Bird and sings here on Downstream.
Three Purple Bird tracks are included, re-arranged with new instrumentation, including London May that Thomas Blake, reviewing that album for KLOF, described the original as “the atmospheric, piano-led ballad which rises out of darkness into a soaring chorus,” while Sometimes It’s Hard to Breathe was “a velvet-gloved gut-punch where hope and despair rub shoulders.” Downstream, which on the studio version featured John Anderson on lead vocals, here has Ferguson stepping into the singing role.
The remaining five tracks are drawn from across Oldham’s career. Shorty’s Ark (“both a cuddly nursery rhyme and a statement on climate disaster”) originally appeared on 2021’s Superwolves with Matt Sweeney. Strange Form of Life dates back to The Letting Go (2006), while This Is Far From Over comes from 2019’s I Made a Place, an album Bob Fish reviewed for KLOF as a record that “sounds comfortable and warm while dealing with the uncertainty of what lies ahead.” Trees of Hell, from 2023’s Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You, was a song Blake wrote “rails against the pain inflicted on the natural world by human action.” Closer I See a Darkness is the title track of Oldham’s 1999 album — his first release under the Bonnie “Prince” Billy name, and a song whose reach continues to extend: Alexis Taylor and Mike Simonetti shared their own version just two months ago.
Oldham says:
Everyone on the stage (on this record) knows how to tell stories, musically, and relies on this storytelling to create liveable real spaces. In February of 2025, in Los Angeles, we had stories to share with each other and we did it with a thorough and cathartic push-and-pull with each other, and with the audience.
The sound of the record doesn’t make any sense, nor does its duration, by standard standards, and this allows the record to do what we want music to do which is to make its own sense.
Once you’ve been on the road for years it’s undeniable that the road is also home, because that’s where much of our friends and family are. The stage and the audience were full of friends and family, and music is where we meet.
Tracklist:
- Sometimes It’s Hard to Breathe
- Shorty’s Ark
- London May
- Downstream
- Strange Form of Life
- This Is Far From Over
- Trees of Hell
- I See a Darkness
Ghosts of American Psychonauts is available to pre-order on black vinyl, CD and digitally. Pre-order: DomMart | Digital
Upcoming live dates
Friday 7th August – Caprera Openluchttheater, Bloemendaal, NL
Saturday 8th August – Haldern Pop Festival, Rees, DE
Sunday 9th August – Parkhotel Weisser Hirsch, Dresden, DE
Monday 10th August – Kampnagel, Hamburg, DE
Tuesday 11th August – Grosser Sendesaal Des RBB, Haus Des Rundfunks, Berlin, DE
Thursday 13th August – Voxhall, Aarhus, DK
Friday 14th August – Way Out West Festival, Goteberg, SE
Sunday 16th August – DR Koncerthuset, Copenhagen, DK
Tuesday 8th September – Mandela Hall, Belfast, NI
Wednesday 9th September – Dolans Warehouse, Limerick City, IE
Thursday 10th September – Set Theatre, Kilkenny, IE
Friday 11th September – Dún Laoghaire Folk Festival, Dublin, IE
Saturday 12th September – Dún Laoghaire Folk Festival, Dublin, IE
Wednesday 23rd September – Blue Jay Listening Room, Jacksonville Beach, US
Thursday 24th September – Blue Jay Listening Room, Jacksonville Beach, US
Friday 25th September – Lyceum Concert Hall at Santa Fe College, Gainesville, US
Saturday 26th September – Pugh Theater, Orlando, US
Sunday 27th September – Bayboro Brewing, St. Petersburg, US
Monday 19th October – The Ark, Ann Arbor, US
Tuesday 10th November – Ancienne Belgique, Brussels, BE
Wednesday 11th November – Koninklijk Theater Carre, Amsterdam, NL
Friday 13th November – O2 Institute, Birmingham, UK
Saturday 14th November – The Fire Station, Sunderland, UK
Sunday 15th November – The Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, UK
Monday 16th November – Albert Hall, Manchester, UK
Tuesday 17th November – O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London, UK
Tuesday 1st December – La Rosa, Tuscon, US
Wednesday 2nd December – San Miguel Chapel, Santa Fe, US – SOLD OUT
Thursday 3rd December – San Miguel Chapel, Santa Fe, US – SOLD OUT
Friday 4th December – South Broadway Cultural Center, Albuquerque, US
Tuesday 26th January – The Unknown, Anacortes, US – SOLD OUT
Wednesday 27th January – Capital Ballroom, Victoria, CA
Thursday 28th January – Hollywood Theater, Vancouver, CA
Friday 29th January – Tractor Tavern, Seattle, US – early show
Friday 29th January – Tractor Tavern, Seattle, US – late show
Saturday 30th January – Aladdin Theater, Portland, US
Sunday 31st January – Aladdin Theater, Portland, US