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Bonnie vids

58. Matt Sweeney & Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Superwolf (2005)

                                                        

Criticisms of Will Oldhams output are often well founded (i.e. inconsistency, not able to self edit, doesn't reveal true self). However this mid decade gem found Bonnie at his best in vocal power, experimentism and unfettered emotion. Teaming with Matt Sweeney, who allegedly challenged Bonnie to some kind of songwriting competition, which may have appeled to Bonnie's not inconsiderable perversity. Sweeney had been doing the rounds in various indie combos including Guided By Voices & Billy Corgan's Zwaan. What Sweeney provided Bonnie with was a kind of mid period Dylan/Band/Allman Bros wild mercury choogle, with a minimalist slant and dark southern gothic edge. My Home Is The Sea is sung delicately by a duo who could only be landlocked lubbers wearing cut offs and mousey moustastes. Superwolf contains love songs promising rough sex, Bonnies 'horney horn', mournful dirges with inappropriate jokes etc.

Blood Embrace is the albums centrepiece, a tense cheating song, Bonnie's strong high vocal interplays with gently stroked electric guitar, and film samples to tell a tale of a woman who has cheated and confessed to her husband, the sexual tension and ominous, dangerous environment created remains one of the decades finest musical moments, and seals this albums position in this list.