Will Oldham's musical personality is strong and distinct enough that when he collaborates with another artist, with rare exception he firmly takes the lead (whether or not that was the intention). And while guitarist
Matt Sweeney (formerly of
Chavez and
Zwan) gets equal billing with
Oldham's alter ego
Bonnie "Prince" Billy on 2005's Superwolf, one listen confirms that this is primarily
Oldham's work, with
Sweeney obviously second in command. (The liner notes state that
Oldham wrote the lyrics and
Sweeney wrote the music, though to these ears
Sweeney is either remarkably gifted at channeling
Oldham's musical notions or the lyricist passed along a few melodic ideas as well.) However, this isn't to say
Sweeney's presence isn't strongly and clearly felt here -- Superwolf exists in a musical landscape very much like
Bonnie "Prince" Billy's earlier recorded work, such as
Ease Down the Road and
I See a Darkness, but
Sweeney's periodic interjections of hard guitar lines give this a firmer musical texture and a stronger structural backbone than one might expect. Also, with
Sweeney on hand,
Oldham has kept some of his less appealing musical eccentricities in check -- this is one of his strongest and best-focused works in years, with the slow tempos adding drama to songs that manage to go somewhere in dramatic fashion despite their deliberate pace, and
Sweeney's spare but evocative guitar lines fill the spaces without cluttering the frames. Even if
Oldham ends up being front and center on Superwolf, the results make it clear the man works best with a strong collaborator, and it's hard not to hope
Oldham and
Sweeney continue to work together in the future. ~ Mark Deming