A more stable Will? It certainly seems so. The "Bonnie" boy finally opens up.
By Merek Cooper
What is it about Will Oldham’s music that makes it so goddamn good? An omnipresent ghostly echo, a phantom vibration, a primordial connection to something everlasting but for now lost in the modern world? You sense all this in his music, but you can never quite pin it down–never quite nail that x–factor that makes it transcend its contemporaries. The music, like the man, remains shrouded in mystery.
Or at least that’s how a traditional Will Oldham interview would open. The man, the myth, the music… you've heard it all before. Well, from here on in you can forget all that. I’m here to give you the truth, no angles, no bullshit, just the facts. A conversation with a man who makes music. Nothing more. Don’t come looking for mystery; you won’t find it.
The real facts of the matter–as they appear to me at least–are these: Writers need stories, writers need angles. One is chosen and applied as the rule, there are no exceptions. You talk to Will Oldham, you are obliged to use a certain set of signifiers. Lets take a cross–sectional sample, shall we? “The most mysterious figure in contemporary American music.” “The elusive Will Oldham, man of many records and many aliases.” “During his career, Will Oldham has made confusion a speciality.” Confusion, wilful obtuseness, a reticence to comply with interviewers’ questions–that’s not what I found. I found a man who was obliging, comfortable and although perhaps a little withdrawn, a man more than willing to answer my questions.
I 've never understood why people find it so hard to understand Will Oldham. The man sits down with a guitar or at a piano and makes music. Millions of people do the same thing. Yes, he’s better at it than most, but what’s so hard to fathom? The music is simple enough. Most of his songs quietly shamble along, with the lyrics decidedly placed in the foreground, in plain view for all to see. They always have been, and they certainly are on his new album, Master and Everyone. A close to solitary performance of simple paeans to love, life and the problems of matrimony. It rather seems that everyone has got hold of the wrong end of the stick. See for yourself. I called Will in California, where he was staying with friends in Mill Valley after his first show supporting Björk on the West Coast leg of her American tour. This was our conversation:
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By Merek Cooper
What is it about Will Oldham’s music that makes it so goddamn good? An omnipresent ghostly echo, a phantom vibration, a primordial connection to something everlasting but for now lost in the modern world? You sense all this in his music, but you can never quite pin it down–never quite nail that x–factor that makes it transcend its contemporaries. The music, like the man, remains shrouded in mystery.
Or at least that’s how a traditional Will Oldham interview would open. The man, the myth, the music… you've heard it all before. Well, from here on in you can forget all that. I’m here to give you the truth, no angles, no bullshit, just the facts. A conversation with a man who makes music. Nothing more. Don’t come looking for mystery; you won’t find it.
The real facts of the matter–as they appear to me at least–are these: Writers need stories, writers need angles. One is chosen and applied as the rule, there are no exceptions. You talk to Will Oldham, you are obliged to use a certain set of signifiers. Lets take a cross–sectional sample, shall we? “The most mysterious figure in contemporary American music.” “The elusive Will Oldham, man of many records and many aliases.” “During his career, Will Oldham has made confusion a speciality.” Confusion, wilful obtuseness, a reticence to comply with interviewers’ questions–that’s not what I found. I found a man who was obliging, comfortable and although perhaps a little withdrawn, a man more than willing to answer my questions.
I 've never understood why people find it so hard to understand Will Oldham. The man sits down with a guitar or at a piano and makes music. Millions of people do the same thing. Yes, he’s better at it than most, but what’s so hard to fathom? The music is simple enough. Most of his songs quietly shamble along, with the lyrics decidedly placed in the foreground, in plain view for all to see. They always have been, and they certainly are on his new album, Master and Everyone. A close to solitary performance of simple paeans to love, life and the problems of matrimony. It rather seems that everyone has got hold of the wrong end of the stick. See for yourself. I called Will in California, where he was staying with friends in Mill Valley after his first show supporting Björk on the West Coast leg of her American tour. This was our conversation:
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Lay and Love