Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Ease Down the Road
(Palace)
On the surface, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's new album, Ease Down the Road,
finds Oldham satiated with carnal pleasures and almost joyful. The music
is rather fleshed out for Oldham, with some regard given to the songs'
pop aspects (although not nearly as much as 1997's Joya). The album shares
many intimate moments, bookended by, in the beginning, Oldham asking a woman
to "go into the bedroom and we'll play bride and groom" and, at the end, Oldham
jovially laughing, rocking the bed with his delight over the past night of "my
fingers in your behind." On this superficial level, it seems as if Oldham
has found a committed relationship and is reveling in all its sexual splendor.
Of course, there is a catch. This woman Oldham invites "into the bedroom
... (to) play bride and groom" is the bride of another man. This jovial
facade Oldham uses is masking a lot of conflict gnawing away at him:
guilt, frustration, and jealousy. "A King at Night" is self-mocking--Oldham
gives the song a pop chorus of "This is how I start another day in my kingdom,"
making it seem like the Prince is confident and powerful. However, the Prince
has awakened with crusty eyes to find his "queen" is gone. The queen does not
claim the Prince's kingdom as her own: "You fuck and what's to do? It's
not your kingdom too."
Ease Down the Road covers all emotions Oldham is going through in this
relationship. In "After I Made Love to You," Oldham sings of the most
intimate post-coital moments, fully entrenched in love, pushing away any
feelings of guilt. This is paralleled in "Mrs. William," where Oldham
acts naive, singing like a child, "Mrs. William, where is William? Where
has William go?" Here, Oldham recounts being presented with the opportunity
to become the other man and, neglecting any logic or reason, says he would
give anything for this love. In "Careless Love," the guilt consumes him,
carrying over to "At the Break of Day" where Oldham swears to end it all the
next morning, thinking of other women he could share "the break of day" with.
Musically, Ease Down the Road is not the pop album that Joya is, and it
is not as dark and emotional as 1999's I See a Darkness. However, the
album does tell a story, and the album seems to perfectly capture what
it must be like to be the other man. While there is frustration, as Oldham
finds when he "start(s) another day in (his) kingdom," the sadness and
conflict cannot match that of the other two people involved. He has to
cover it with a jovial laugh and a prominent chorus or else he might
seem selfish and more like a villain. But the emotion is there; as always,
Oldham provides much under the surface.
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