Up until this very afternoon, I'd never heard of Jules de Corte, a blind Dutch singer-songwriter who won some European prizes in the '60s and who died in 1996 at the age of 71. I'd also never heard of the improvisational Belgian quartet Linus. I had, however, heard of beloved roots-music weirdo Bonnie "Prince" Billy, so the news that he's making a Jules de Corte tribute album with Linus demanded further investigation.
Will Oldham sure loves a sidequest. Earlier this year, he released the lovely Bonnie "Prince" Billy album We Are Together Again, the latest entry in an expansive catalog. (There was also a live album called Ghosts Of American Psychonauts last month.) Later this month, Oldham and Linus will release their collaborative LP The Outsider: The Music Of Jules de Corte, a collection of de Corte's songs that have been reworked and translated into English.
Today, Bonnie "Prince" Billy and Linus share three tracks from the LP: "And God Saw," "Mariska," and "Little Jesus, Mighty God." As someone who is entirely unversed in all the non-Oldham people involved in this record, all I can really say is that these tracks all pretty much sound like Bonnie "Prince" Billy songs with occasional jazz flourishes. They're pretty! Listen below.
TRACKLIST:
01 "And God Saw"
02 "Little Anita"
03 "Mariska"
04 "The Stranger"
05 "Little Jesus, Mighty God"
06 "When I Was Nude"
07 "And God Saw (instrumental)
08 "The Outsider"
The Outsider: The Music Of Jules de Corte is out 10/30.
