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Nov 13, 2019One of Will Oldham’s strongest albums in recent times, if not ever. .... It’s thoughtful, beautiful fare, along with a few singalong stormers (Mama, Mama will get a crowd swaying at 30 paces) as you’d expect from Oldham, but it’s in the lyrics that he succeeds in his desire for self-reflection.
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Nov 13, 2019Oldham’s albums as Bonnie “Prince” Billy always achieve a cohesiveness that makes the whole greater than the sum of its parts, and I Made a Place is no exception.
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Nov 13, 2019These are songs written for the sheer joy found in creating and sharing that still hold within them a much deeper core. ... Beautifully constructed, candid, and hopeful vignettes.
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Dec 2, 2019Each tune is hummable and lovely, the kind of soft-spoken tune that Bonnie weaves around acoustic guitar strums. The latter half of the album remains slow and steady—a pace broken only by the snaking horns on “Thick Air”—in contrast to the first half that culls the all the upbeat optimism into a packed room.
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Nov 20, 2019The album is set in a place that’s warm and brightly illuminated. But it’s there, just outside the circle of light, just out of sight, and it makes Oldham’s place even more lovely for the respite it brings.
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Nov 19, 2019I Made A Place is a soft, sumptuous delight. It’s a cult classic, not a bestseller, but we’re pretty sure that Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy wouldn’t have it any other way.
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Q MagazineNov 19, 2019Across the range of these 13 short songs is the sound of a singular musician revelling in his gift. A wonderful return. [Jan 2020, p.106]
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Nov 18, 2019These tunes relish their flutes and organs, horns and strings. Crucially, hope plays off against the bleakness.
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Nov 18, 2019Not only is I Have Made A Place the most consistent work Oldham has put out in some time, it is up there with the finest in his now very extensive back catalogue.
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Nov 15, 2019That precarious balance between surrealism and sweetness, adept contributions and singular vision, and much more make I Made a Place feel like a must-visit destination — it's one of the best alt-folk albums to come out in years.
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Nov 13, 2019It is tough to immediately decide where this record fits into Oldham’s dense, diverse and frankly daunting discography, but it’s reaffirming to see him still swinging for the fences.
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MojoNov 13, 2019It's really a nightmare world Oldham describes, but he cloaks it in tender beauty, slight-of-hand that remodels human failure into heartening endurance, a consoling story against the cold. [Dec 2019, p.88]
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UncutNov 13, 2019The greatest compliment it can be paid is that it sounds like no time at all separates it from its predecessor. It's a(nother) fine album of gently joyous country songs. [Dec 2019, p.25]
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Nov 13, 2019It all sounds nice enough, but it's lacking the biting insight of the best Oldham records. Luckily, the second half is a lot more contemplative, with a fascinating final triptych of moody cuts, reveling in an air of opaque imagery (less so on the final track) and campfire rumination.
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Nov 15, 2019One of Oldham’s most complicated albums. ... If you’re left confused or disoriented, that’s exactly Oldham’s point. Welcome, he seems to say, we’ve been waiting for you.
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Nov 18, 2019Invigorated and with more purpose, Oldham feels the wholeness of family and unity. Whereas past projects lived in a state of flux, Oldham now feels settled and at ease. It does sound like he's found the "lightness," after all.
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Nov 13, 2019The album offers a lighter and mellower reading of Bonnie "Prince" Billy as he walks further down a perpetually twisting path with each new set of songs.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 6 out of 7
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Mixed: 1 out of 7
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Negative: 0 out of 7
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Nov 23, 2019
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Nov 16, 2019