(Drag City)“Looking for a recommendation for an artist residency that takes small families with two working artist parents?” tweeted Will Oldham recently. The Americana outrider with the shining pate is now coupled up, with small fry on board. His newest album sings mellifluously of true love (“complete transfiguration”, according to You Know the One) and memory boxes, of building something lasting. “My cookie jar is here,” he sings on Dream Awhile, an adult lullaby extolling the succour of a good night’s sleep. A peak-Billy melody and Joan Shelley backing vocals compound the loveliness.
Naturally, Oldham sees things differently to others – he has an “eye for the squid”, as the song of the same name puts it. The darkening sky looms. Harm is “swarming round”. On This Is Far From Over, a simple folk tune, Oldham envisions “shorelines gone and maps destroyed” and advises teaching your children to swim. But these 13 tracks tell, musically, of the years of collaboration, covers and self-examination since 2011’s Wolfroy Goes to Town. It’s a process that has re-seeded a jolly solidarity in Oldham. These tunes relish their flutes and organs, horns and strings. Crucially, hope plays off against the bleakness. “Fill me up, pour me another,” he sings on The Glow, Part 3, “I can still see the light of day.”