BONNIE PRINCE BILLY - Ghosts Of American Psychonauts

No stranger to the ritual of the live album, this time Will Oldham puts on the line the shared repertoire recorded under the moniker of Bonnie “Prince” Billy with a set that's as brief — under thirty-four minutes — as it is intense.
Recorded at the Pico Union Project in Los Angeles in 2025, “Ghosts Of American Psychonauts” finds Oldham flanked by Thomas Deakin (clarinet and electric guitar), Emmett Kelly (bass), London May (drums), Ryder McNair (keyboards), Jacob Duncan (flute and saxophone) and Dv DeVincentis (saxophone).
The choice of wind instruments proves to be the winning card of a record that might otherwise have been consigned to mere documentary duty.

Unsurprisingly, the lion's share goes to the album chronicling the descent into the Nashville underworld, namely “The Purple Bird”; so it's no surprise that the duet partner on the languid “Downstream” is none other than David Ferguson, the man responsible for the country-Nashville binge of the 2025 album.
Rounding out the trio of tracks drawn from that record are the opener “Sometimes It's Hard To Breathe” and the brooding “London May”, which more than any other track benefits from the splendid staging of the horn section.
“Ghosts Of American Psychonauts” is further proof of the remarkable stature of this American musician, never ordinary or predictable. The album captures a mood and a creative state that also breathes new life into the well-worn, unforgettable “I See A Darkness”, stripped down and bare as never before, yet powerful as a stormy ocean: a version that reveals new facets of the unease that has always marked one of the finest pages in such a vast and significant body of work.
The track that benefits most from this live transposition is “Strange Form Of Life”: Ryder McNair's piano and the horn section heighten the emotional charge, spurring the musician into a poignant vocal display of rare beauty.

Many will surely find such a short live album superfluous, but they'll be denied the grace of “This Is Far From Over”, where a flute solo takes center stage, or the corrosive dissonance of the horns that upends the coordinates of “Trees Of Hell”. No matter: those who skip “Ghosts Of American Psychonauts” may not miss these 34 minutes of creative ecstasy; the rest, luckier, will appreciate its intelligent reinterpretation, and rue not having been present for that thrilling two-day stint in Los Angeles.

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26/09/2026