Throughout history, prophecy and insight have been regarded as two of the greatest misfortunes that can befall a human being. Wise men and oracles have been almost unanimously portrayed as tortured souls, forced to come to terms with a truth that the average man will barely be able to glimpse over the course of his life. It's hard to say whether Will Oldham possesses any kind of supernatural perceptiveness, but there have been times in his recording career when one has definitely gotten the sense that there's some truth beyond our own comprehension that haunts him. Oldham's voice aches with pure fragility; when he's at his best, it's impossible to tell whether he's on the verge of a complete breakdown or a transcendental revelation. Either way, it's that sense of powerful emotion and understanding just below the surface of Oldham's quavering voice that has made his music so personally compelling.
Thus, it follows that Oldham's most intimate recordings have always been his best. On the classic Palace record Viva Last Blues, and his first LP under the Bonnie Billy moniker, I See a Darkness, Oldham's voice seemed to materialize into a palpable presence, a haunting, troubled apparition that, though alarmingly human, seemed to carry with it a supernatural constituent. I See a Darkness was the sonic equivalent of a sublimely beautiful nightmare. A tangible sense of impending doom managed to coexist with a more abstract acceptance of the eventuality of death, resulting in an album that flawlessly expressed near-infinite permutations of the inexplicable relationship between man and death.
If I See a Darkness was an album of fear, Ease Down the Road could best be seen as an album of contained joy and resignation. While I See a Darkness was kept at a veritable whisper, and rarely deviated from the sparsest of arrangements, Ease Down the Road is not only Oldham's most fleshed-out work to date, but also his most sonically diverse. The result is a fairly uneven batch of songs that, while sometimes hinting at past glory and the prospect of new musical directions, suffers from a lack of the heart-wrenching melody and intimate delivery that have made Oldham's past records so moving.
While only five people (including Will Oldham and brother Paul) played on I See a Darkness, Ease Down the Road is credited to twelve individuals, including David Pajo, Oldham brother and Anomoanon frontman Ned, Chavez's Matt Sweeney, and "filmmaker" Harmony Korine. Considering that many of the twelve contributors to the record are credited with three or four instruments, it makes sense that the album would be a much thicker sounding affair than previous outings. Tracks like the album's opener, "May It Always Be," and "After I Made Love to You," begin with relatively sparse arrangements, but develop to include multiple layers of vocals, pianos, and guitars. Both of these songs, like many on Ease Down the Road, vary greatly in quality within the songs themselves.
"After I Made Love to You" develops gracefully along a fluid bassline and gorgeous melody until a single blast of digital synth destroys the organic feel of the song. "May It Always Be" suffers from some more dire faults, most notably the lack of memorable traditional melody that Oldham's record so often benefit from. Like all of Ease Down the Road's less spectacular tracks, the flourishes of sound on "May It Always Be" don't seem to have any particular purpose; the expanded sonic vocabulary comes at the cost of economy and purpose, a cost that proves to be unfortunately detrimental.
Though a good portion of Ease Down the Road tends to drag, there are a few noteworthy tracks that showcase Oldham's amazing songwriting in full form. "Grand Dark Feeling of Emptiness," a minor-key acoustic ballad, bears a closer resemblance to the songs of I See a Darkness than anything else here, and one of the few worthy of the Bonnie "Prince" Billy moniker. "Careless Love," the album's most emotionally powerful track, consists simply of Oldham singing a delicate melody that drifts in and out of falsetto over little more than a few pulsating chords. Of the more fleshed out tracks, "Just to See My Holly Home" is by far the most successful-- a sing-along style track that bursts with genuine happiness and blissful surrender.
Eight years into his recording career, Will Oldham finally seems to be on the verge of overcoming the curse of the uncannily perceptive; it seems fully possible that in the near future, he'll be able to apply every ounce of his understanding of the human condition to an album of pure merriment and tranquility, rather than fear and darkness. Ease Down the Road is without doubt a transitional record, and as a result, the many new sounds contained within the album don't always mesh seamlessly. But the promise of a new direction for Will Oldham, coupled with the impressive, though admittedly rare high points of the record, more than compensates for any disappointment.
