Seafarers Music

Will Oldham

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 24, 2004)
• Original Release Date: February 24, 2004
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Drag City
• ASIN: B0001DMUFY
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #181,165 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Sub par effort for Will Oldham, February 24, 2004

By	Rabbit Krishna "hippie_smell" (Brooklyn) - See all my reviews

This album as listed is an instrumental album. Though I'm a huge fan of Will Oldham and own many of his albums and EP's from all of his various projects I can honestly say now that the main draw to his music is his voice. Sure the playing and instrumentation of his music is always acceptable, but without the voice it misses the critical impact that his other works achieve. Imagine what it would sound like if Leonard Cohen had come out with an instrumental album where it's just soft guitar playing without that nice poetic voice. If that sounds acceptable then this album is for you. In my opinion this album will probably only appeal to completists and die hard fans. If you're new to Will's music start with Viva Lost Blues.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Distinctly Oldham, March 13, 2004

By A Customer

I agree that with Bonnie "Prince" Billy and Palace and all its incarnations, Will Oldham's beautiful wavering voice is the driving emotional force behind the music. So when I read that Seafarer's Music was to be all instrumental, I had my doubts it would deliver.

Oldham's music has always been about exposing the frailties of the male alter-ego by pealing away the very fabric of man's desire (well, thats my interpretation), and Seafarer's Music is no different. Yeah, it has no lyrics, but the humanity comes across effortlessly. Each song is a subtle buildup of a single repeated melody. Oldham plucks the strings of his slightly out of tune guitar with such gentle grace. Each note hits me.
The songs run on in the 6-8 minute range. They are all slow and prodding and atmospheric. A few of them even share variations on the same guitar riff. In terms of variety, this ep has none. It's an album I think I lot of people can appretiate, but it is ABSOLUTELY NOT A STARTING POINT IF YOU'RE JUST GETTING INTO OLDHAM.

If you have the patience for minimalistic instrumental folk, you will not be dissapointed. If you're a Palace fan, I encourage you to try it out. It's much different than the usual Oldham, but at the rate he's squirting out great Bonnie albums, it's a welcome departure.

3.0 out of 5 stars A gift to the diehards, April 28, 2009

By	Sidney Carton (Edinburgh, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

A challenging album. A gift to the diehard Oldham fans. Tedious and interesting at once.

I can't say whether I like it, but it still holds my attention.