I See a Darkness

*I See a Darkness* marked the debut of Will Oldham’s Bonnie “Prince” Billy nom de rock, which in the two decades since has become his primary moniker. Unceremonious in its sound, the album is a natural continuation of Oldham’s previous work as Palace Brothers and Palace Music—yet it was the most powerful and perfected realization of his songwriting to date. *I See a Darkness* was lauded by critics, fans, and, notably, many other artists; within a year of the album’s release, Johnny Cash would record a cover of the title track with Oldham singing backup, cementing his graduation from underground phenomenon to master of contemporary American songwriting. *Darkness* fused do-it-yourself indie rock and the American country folk-blues idiom with lyrics that are as spiritually raw as they are wry, all in a voice that was ragged, boyish, and tremulous. Drawing from the vintage work of Merle Haggard, The Louvin Brothers, and modern R&B, the songs are mordant (“I See a Darkness”), eerie, corporeal, and sensual (“The scars of last year’s storm/Rest like maggots on my arm,” he sings on “A Minor Place”). The recurring, doomy theme of death’s inevitability is woven with lighter scenes of earthly connection: professions of love, of brotherly bond, by an invitation to get under someone’s dress (“Death to Everyone”). For all of the anxiousness and fear he voices on *Darkness*, Oldham got indie-rock songwriting out of its own head and lowered it down into the rest of the body with lyrics that were sometimes comically ribald (the itemized “buttock” of “Nomadic Revery \[All Around\]”) or explicitly sexual (“Knockturne”). Within independent rock, *I See a Darkness* was a paradigm-shifting album, the *Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan* of its era, with Oldham’s peculiar and publicity-averse now-you-see-me-now-you-don’t persona making him nearly as enigmatic. Its impact on the sound and style of Oldham’s peers was both immediate (including Björk, Cat Power, Wilco) and lasting (Songs: Ohia, Iron & Wine, Bon Iver, Father John Misty), ushering in an era of albums that strived toward similarly unadorned production, casual eroticism, and visceral intensity.