Vinyl Record
Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Bryce Dessner & Eighth Blackbird - When We Are Inhuman
Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Bryce Dessner & Eighth Blackbird - When We Are Inhuman on 2LP vinyl. A 2019 record available from Kilmorna Collection in Listowel, Ireland.
2LP ยท 2019
Available from Kilmorna Collection in Listowel.
Buyer notes: 2019 2LP, currently available from the Kilmorna Collection vinyl shelf. Pay for pickup in Listowel or ship within Ireland for EUR 5.50.
When We Are Inhuman is a rare kind of collaboration: not a folk singer merely placed in front of chamber players, and not a classical ensemble politely decorating songs. It brings Will Oldham's Bonnie "Prince" Billy persona into contact with Bryce Dessner's contemporary composition world and the precision of Eighth Blackbird, then lets the friction become the point. The album revisits Oldham material such as "New Partner", "Beast for Thee" and "One With the Birds", places traditional murder-ballad language beside composed instrumental space, and closes with Julius Eastman's long-form "Stay On It". The result feels unsettled in the best sense. Oldham's voice remains earthy, vulnerable and wry, but the arrangements expose different angles in the songs: pastoral lines become eerie, familiar melodies gain sharp edges, and quiet moments feel charged rather than merely pretty. It is an album about translation, showing how Appalachian shadow, indie folk intimacy and new-music discipline can occupy the same room without cancelling one another.
This album matters because it catches three traditions meeting without being flattened into crossover smoothness. For Bonnie "Prince" Billy listeners, it reveals how durable Oldham's songs are when removed from their usual folk-rock weather. For Dessner and Eighth Blackbird followers, it shows contemporary classical language working with living songcraft instead of standing apart from it. The album is valuable as a document of late-2010s collaboration, when borders between indie, folk and composed music were increasingly porous.
For collectors, When We Are Inhuman is a side chapter with real depth rather than a novelty detour. It belongs beside Oldham's more collaborative releases, especially for shelves that trace how his songs change when other musicians reshape their emotional grammar. It also suits collections interested in Bryce Dessner's work beyond The National, because it makes his curatorial and compositional instincts audible in a compact, song-based setting. No packaging or variant claim is needed for its appeal: the draw is the meeting of voices, instruments and repertoire.
Chamber-folk and experimental songcraft with Oldham's weathered vocal presence set against strings, winds, piano, percussion and spare contemporary-classical arrangements.
Recommended for: Bonnie "Prince" Billy collectors following the collaborative paths; Listeners who like folk songs reframed by chamber arrangements; Bryce Dessner and Eighth Blackbird followers exploring song-based work.
Who performs When We Are Inhuman? The album is credited to Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Bryce Dessner and Eighth Blackbird, with Oldham's songs, traditional material and composed ensemble work brought into one programme. What year should be used for When We Are Inhuman? Use 2019. The album was released in 2019 and is tied to the 37d03d collaborative circle around Dessner and Justin Vernon. Is this a normal Bonnie "Prince" Billy album? Not exactly. It is best understood as a chamber-minded collaboration that reinterprets Oldham's writing and related folk material through Eighth Blackbird's ensemble language.