The secret is out Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy’s new album is bold enough to roll in the fearsome waves of Makapu’u! Through moments of joy and terror, KSWDY guides the listener with a strong sense of community and the triumph of intention, of which is the marrow and life blood of this music.
“Rise and Rule (She Was Born in Honolulu)” is a song of tribute and celebration, and about the way living takes and takes without compromise – then gives back in ultimately generous fashion. It captures the essence of maternal love and the indomitable spirit of mothers who exemplify courage and resilience in the face of adversity. Over a serene guitar line flowing forth from the silence (and back again), the ‘Prince Billy’ sings it with circumspect reserve and draws from a profound personal experience, letting the words sink in slowly and deeply.
“Rise and Rule (She Was Born in Honolulu)” is from “Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You,” available on LP/CS/CD/Digital from Drag City on August 11th, 2023.
Frequent collaborator and director of “Rise and Rule”, Sai Selvarajan, spoke on the creation of the video: “It was an incredible honor to work on the music video to “Rise and Rule.” The song is very raw, honest, defiant and ultimately triumphant. Being that the song was about Will’s mother, I knew I had to honour her memory and her legacy and this beautiful song. Will asked me if I wanted to see these collages that his mother had made and if I thought we could incorporate them into the video. The emotions they triggered in me were so strong. I felt like I could build the music video with these collages and tell the story of the song with them. I tapped my long time collaborator Matthew Wohlrab to do the hand painted animations of Will. Since the collages were made by hand, I wanted every image in this video to be made by hand.”
“Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You” – an album made as it was meant to be heard, in a room. The sound of people together – a sound we’d so recently feared that we’d lost – playing, communing, strings and wood and keys and voices singing. “Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You” presents simply, and is sung along easily and happily with in time BUT – is it family portrait or fairy tale? How does it think the world was made, and will end?
“Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You” was recorded in Louisville by Nick Roeder, featuring Sara Louise Callaway on violin, Kendall Carter on keys, Elisabeth Fuchsia on viola and violin, Dave Howard on Mandolin, Drew Miller on saxophone and Dane Waters’ voice. The presence of so many local players and music educators in the band lends not only to a flow of moments so fluidly encompassing of a wide range of musics from classical to Japanese acid folk and elsewhere, but perhaps even more importantly, to the sense of community, heredity and the triumph of inheritance that is the marrow and life blood of this music.
The Fat Angel Sings 