Eight exquisite live performances from a master songwriter.
Bonnie “Prince” Billy (aka Will Oldham) is no stranger to releasing live albums. Over the past 25 years he’s produced numerous live recordings under his various aliases. This eight-song collection was recorded over two nights at the Pico Union Project in Los Angeles in February 2025, in which Oldham was accompanied by a highly accomplished group of musicians. Three of the tracks are taken from his 2025 studio album The Purple Bird, including the opener Sometimes It’s Hard to Breathe, a song about finding grace and human connection amid pain, uncertainty, and moral complexity. Oldham was joined by Thomas Deakin on clarinet, Jacob Duncan on flute and saxophone, and fellow saxophonist Dv DeVincentis. The wind instruments are perfect and beautiful, adding an additional expressiveness to the songs. On Shorty’s Ark, a playful retelling of Noah’s Ark, with an underlying serious message of environmental disaster, the flute and clarinet rise and fall, evoking images of birds fluttering around Oldham’s head and a cacophony of wild animals making their way on board.
Oldham has said that the third song, London May, was initially written for the horror film Night of the Bastard, a project that featured his longtime friend and namesake, London May. It’s the second song from The Purple Bird and it’s arguably better than the studio version with the saxophones emphasising the song’s movement from darkness towards hope. Downstream, the final song from The Purple Bird, is a companion piece to Shorty’s Ark with Oldham singing “What’s in the water? What’s in the wind?, The weather is wilder than it’s ever been.” It’s a reminder that we’ll all eventually bear the brunt of the ongoing degradation of the environment. David “Ferg” Ferguson, who was providing support on the tour, sings a verse in his soothing baritone.
Ryder McNair provides some understated piano on the opening of a Strange Form of Life before the brass section joins in this tale of finding love after a 25 year wait. This is Far From Over, a thoughtful song about survival and hope, is embellished by some excellent flute playing. On Trees of Hell the three saxophonists provide a rising dissonance which adds to the apocalyptic vision that Oldham conjures as he sings “Satan did a dance with me and I danced right along”, as the trees rip his stomach open, and a branch robs him of his eyesight. The album closes with the classic I See a Darkness, probably Oldham’s best known song. Musically it’s a more layered version than the original which was released in 1998. However, that only adds to its power.
The arrangements on this record are lush, rich, and expertly executed. The performances are so accomplished that, without the audience noise, it would be difficult to tell they were recorded live. The only slight niggle is that only eight songs from these two nights were included on this album. But maybe that’s the true genius of a great artist: always leave the audience wanting more.
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