Will Oldham has announced his first solo Bonnie “Prince” Billy album since 2019. The new album, Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You, is out August 11 via Drag City. Ethan Osman made the music video for the LP’s lead single, “Bananas,” without actually hearing the song. “It is not intended to interpret the music, but to interpret prompts requested of Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy,” according to a note at the visual’s end. Watch the new video below.
Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You follows 2019’s I Made a Place and the two collaborative albums that Bonnie “Prince” Billy released in 2021: Superwolves (with Matt Sweeney) and Blind Date Party (with Bill Callahan). Will Oldham made his new album in Louisville, Kentucky, with recording engineer Nick Roeder, violinist Sara Louise Callaway, keyboardist Kendall Carter, violist and violinist Elisabeth Fuchsia, mandolinist Dave Howard, saxophonist Drew Miller, and vocalist Dane Waters.
Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You:
01 Like It or Not
02 Behold! Be Held!
03 Bananas
04 Blood of the Wine
05 Sing Them Down Together
06 Kentucky Is Water
07 Willow, Pine and Oak
08 Trees of Hell
09 Rise and Rule (She Was Born in Honolulu)
10 Queens of Sorrow
11 Crazy Blue Bells
12 Good Morning, Popocatépetl