TORTOISE & BONNIE "PRINCE" BILLY: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD

The Brave and the Bold is the sixth full-length studio album by US ( Chicago) experimental rock act Tortoise. The album is credited to Tortoise & Bonnie 'Prince' Billy. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy is one of the artist names used by American singer/ songwriter Will Oldham. The Brave and the Bold is a very different album compared to the rest of Tortoise discography. All songs are covers and all songs have vocals ( this is where Will Oldham enters the picture) which is not a regular feature in Tortoise´s music.

The music is sophisticated pop/ rock and bringing in Will Oldham means that his voice is center of the attention most of the time. The album is not nearly as experimental as the other albums from the band, but it´s still an interesting album especially because of Will Oldham´s strong and warm voice. Most songs have a melancholic mood but there are a couple of silly songs like the opener Cravo E Canela with it´s latin feel on the album which is good for the diversity of the album. I must confess that I don´t know a single one of the original tunes so I can´t comment on how different these versions are from the originals.

The musicianship is excellent and it´s so obvious that these musicians know their chops even though nothing really challenging is played.

The production is pleasant and warm. A good sound for the music.

I´m not sure this album will neccessarely appeal to fans of Tortoise regular style, but with an open mind the album is actually pretty enjoyable and some of Tortoise ideas are still recognizable in the music. 3 stars is deserved even though I like their instrumental music better.