And We Can Stop Our Whoring and Put Our Smiles Inside

Bonnie Prince Billy (and all Will Oldham productions) is in the short orbit of rotating musicians for the two remaining open seats on my sillyass desert island game. He has a new release this June, remake/remodelings of old songs, including the above. When I heard of the project my first thought was Kate Bush (who has a permanent spot on the island) and the merely bad Director's Cut and Peter Gabriel (who, while not in the rotation, is an honored saint of Egoslavia) and the shockingly awful Live Blood, both albums that scream I've run out of ideas, you're a fan, you'll buy anything.* (Bush, I rush to credit her, has since released the magical and wonderful and all new 50 Words for Snow). I don't know why Oldham is remaking/remodeling, and even if he's doing it for the coin, the new I See a Darkness is clever and funny and different enough from the original that it feels almost genuinely reconceived rather than just differently recorded. I recognize my faith in my faithlessness in my faith's faithfulness has umpteen thumbs on the scale. Here's the original:





*Yes, I'm aware to the irony.