"New Partner"Palace Music
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Congratulations to Will Oldham, who has now become the first artist I have blogged about more than once. This track, however, is from his pre-Bonnie "Prince" Billy days, when he was still calling himself Palace Music. "New Partner" reminds me why Oldham is probably my favorite songwriter going. He takes a spare, bare-bones lyrical and musical structure and then imbues it with ineffable emotion. He harmonizes roughly on the chorus, his wooly voice breaking gently at the top of his range. For some reason this song reminds me of Annie Proulx's "Brokeback Mountain" (the short story...I haven't seen the film yet). Maybe it's the combination of tenderness and roughness, the guilt and atonement alluded to in the lyrics, and the bittersweet feeling Oldham seems to express over having a "new partner." But like a great short story writer, Oldham creates an emotional experience that cannot be described with other words. You have to hear it.
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1 comment:
It's amazing to me how unique and consistant Will Oldham's aesthetic is - especially since it's such a simple aesthetic.
"ineffable emotion" is a great way to describe it too.
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