Bonnie 'Prince' Billy — The Letting Go

With one of indie's most striking voices and a modern classic album under his belt (I See A Darkness), you'd think Will Oldham would start taking it somewhat easy one of these days. But The Letting Go is just another in a string of head-shakingly great records under Oldham's Bonnie 'Prince' Billy moniker. Taking some hints from the souped up production on last year's Superwolf collaboration with Matt Sweeny, the winsome singer unleashes his passionate wail rather than keeping it subdued, as he did on the last proper Bonnie effort, Master And Everyone. Using a full band rather than simple, sparse instrumentation propels Oldham's voice in new directions. Where songs on previous albums were content to run in circles, the tracks on The Letting Go consistently move in different directions and interesting choices are made at almost every turn. Maybe it's not another bona fide classic, but who wants to replicate the past? Certainly not Oldham, who continues to surprise with his whimsy and never-ending songwriting smarts.

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