February 18, 2000
Guarapero/Lost Blues Vol 2 / Ode Music
You probably couldn't describe this as a flurry of [a]Will Oldham[/a] activity - more a slow seep....
7 / 10
You probably couldn't describe this as a flurry of Will Oldham activity - more a slow seep. The man who spent nine decades trapped down a Yukon mine measures out music like a sedative draught, and these two releases are well judged to highlight the depth and acuity of his talents. Not to mention his cover of AC/DC's 'Big Balls'.
'Ode Music' is the real marginalia, Oldham's instrumental soundtrack for Kelly Reichardt's low-budget film about sexual identity in the Deep South. (Joel Schumacher, it is said, lost out at the bidding stage.)
Over nine tracks, a repeated guitar motif twists around Aerial M's branches, but for all the sinister pastoral, Oldham's lyrical bent is missed. Under the surface, though, be certain that every note carries with it a spider, a woman and a dark horse.
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