The Letting Go
Recorded in Iceland with strings by Nico Muhly and Dawn McCarthy singing alongside.
Bonnie "Prince" Billy, 2006
- Released
- September 2006
- Studio
- Reykjavik, Iceland
- Label
- Drag City
Recorded in Reykjavik, Iceland, and produced by Valgeir Sigurdsson, who has worked with Bjork, it has arrangements by Nico Muhly and the singing of Dawn McCarthy of Faun Fables. Its title comes from the last lines of the Emily Dickinson poem that begins After a Great Pain, a Formal Feeling Comes. Emmett Kelly played guitar, Paul Oldham bass and Jim White drums.
Matt LeMay's Pitchfork review said the album feels close. Metacritic scored it 84 from 24 reviews, and Pitchfork placed it at number 195 on its list of the top 200 albums of the 2000s. Stereogum ranked it eighth, and Treble described the string-laden grandeur of Muhly's arrangements.
Track listing
- Love Comes to Me4:31
- Strange Form of Life3:46
- Wai3:37
- Cursed Sleep5:35
- No Bad News4:45
- Cold & Wet2:21
- Big Friday2:43
- Lay and Love3:50
- The Seedling4:36
- Then the Letting Go5:19
- God's Small Song4:03
- I Called You Back7:51
- Ebb Tide5:12
Personnel
- Will Oldham music
- Dawn McCarthy singing
- Emmett Kelly guitar
- Paul Oldham bass
- Jim White drums
- Valgeir Sigurdsson producer, recording, mixing
- Nico Muhly arrangements
More from Bonnie "Prince" Billy
Viva Last Blues (1995), I See a Darkness (1999), Ease Down the Road (2001), Master and Everyone (2003)
Sources
- The Letting Go, Wikipedia
- Bonnie "Prince" Billy: The Letting Go, Pitchfork (2006-09-18)
- Will Oldham Albums From Worst To Best, Stereogum (2013-05-10)
- Bonnie "Prince" Billy: best albums, a beginner's guide, Treble
- Lie Down in the Light, Wikipedia
- Wolfroy Goes to Town, Wikipedia