Bonnie "Prince" Billy Announces 'Singer's Grave: A Sea of Tongues'

Published Aug 27, 2014

Prolific Kentucky indie folk figure Will Oldham has announced yet another LP as Bonnie "Prince" Billy , with the latest entry into his lengthy back catalogue coming under the title. The album lands September 23 through longtime label Drag City A press release confirms the arrival of the album and offers up the cover art, a water colour painting of a tiger, but doesn't really deliver much beyond that. The label does, however, point to an interview with the artist as conduced by a DJ "Rockin Ryan" at Q101 radio. As you'll see down below, the YouTube clip is dubbed "Most Awkward Innerview (sic) Ever!?!", and certainly lives up to that promise. It's also quite possible that the audio you'll hear is more performance art than it is an interview.The chat comes with a quick and odd confession from Oldham that he "accidentally swallowed a can of donkey water this morning," and finds him describing a foot injury that apparently inspired the album. "I wanted to make something that'd stop the hole in my foot," he said after previously announcing the injury gushed out all sorts of purple fluids.While the nearly 20-minute conversation was light on song details, the singer-songwriter described Track 3 as sounding something like a "duck with a broken foot" and noted the collection is "music you can spit in your hands to."As we wait for more details to be delivered in a much less uncomfortable manner, you can comb through the rest of the highly confrontational interview in which Bonnie "Prince" Billy demands the DJ speak in a Mickey Mouse-styled higher register, threatens to punch him in the mug with his "butter fist" and likewise asserts that he plans to "slap your heinie in the face with my fist."As Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Oldham recently issued a 7-inch supporting his score for an Australian surf film and released the Solemns collaboration with Marquis de Tren (a.k.a. Dirty Three guitarist Mick Turner), the What the Brothers Sang Everly Brothers tribute with Dawn McCarthy, and a self-titled LP in 2013.1. Night Noises2. So Far and Here We Are3. There Will Be Spring4. Quail and Dumplings5. We Are Unhappy6. It's Time To Be Clear7. Whipped8. Old Match9. Mindlessness10. New Black Rich (Tusks)11. Sailor's Grave A Sea of Sheep