Bonnie Prince Billy (aka Will Oldham, in the picture) has always been a bit of a spooky guy. From ‘I See a Darkness,’ to his work with Dawn McCarthy, he’s dwelt in the darker corners of country-folk for some time. But his new project with Dominic Cipolla of Brooklyn’s Phantom Family Halo brings his work closer in line to early ’70’s psych-country like Hawkwind and The Byrds Sweetheart of the Rodeo. This is one of the more unlikely unions of the year, bridging a gap between Cipolla’s brain-melting retro-machinations to Oldham’s country road tales. The collaboration didn’t sound like an obvious idea in the world to me at first, but on listening to ‘The Mindeater’ off their new EP of the same name, those thoughts melted away. I mean literally melted, this is some far-out stuff. They’ve recorded three songs so far (fittingly from the 2nd floor above a funeral home in Brooklyn) and expect a full-length to be released early next year. Pick up their new EP Mindeater (Knitting Factory Records) wherever spooky psychedelia is sold. – Mike Levine (@goldnuggets)
