Customer Reviews

Seafarers Music

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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.

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.

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.