Maybe it’s the fact that I watched it with my ex-girlfriend at a point in our relationship where its depiction of listlessly unrequited erotic longing hit a little too close to home, but ever since seeing Kelly Reichardt’s 2006 film Old Joy, I’ve had an aversion to any musical projects involving its costar Will Oldham. Given that Pitchfork regards Oldham’s 1999 album I See a Darkness (released as Bonnie “Prince” Billy) as one of the decade’s ten best, though, I did my best to banish Oldham’s hirsute nakedness from my memory and gave the disc a spin.

The first song, “A Minor Place,” immediately gave me hope that maybe the Pitchfork editors are actual human beings with hearts and hopes and dreams, as opposed to robots who hate us all and want the world to end in 47 minutes of atonal buzzing. It’s a gentle ballad with a chord progression that might have come from a Carter Family song, Oldham warbling over stately piano chords and brushed drums.

Not that there’s any raucous unbreaking of the circle going on here. I See a Darkness is a hushed collection with quiet focus, as if Oldham is trying to slowly and deliberately describe a tragic event that befell him years ago. I See a Darkness may now be best known for Johnny Cash’s 2000 cover of its title track; Oldham sang backup for the Man in Black, and Pitchfork’s William Bowers calls Cash’s version “a sobriety hymn.”

Bowers called I See a Darkness Oldham’s “least ‘country'” album at least up to the time it was released, but it’s still an artifact of the generous wave of alt-country that poured from guitar strings into binary strings during the 90s. That’s a big and impressive part of 90s music, and in this project I haven’t touched on it yet: Uncle Tupelo (and Wilco and Son Volt), Gillian Welch, the Old 97’s, Steve Earle, John Hiatt, Lyle Lovett, Emmylou Harris (one of the alt-country originals, whose 1995 album Wrecking Ball marked a career peak), and the Jayhawks, just to throw a few artists out for starters. The Cash-Oldham collaboration was an apt reminder that country music as a genre has never been as unambiguous and simple-minded as some of its practitioners make it sound.

For the most part I See a Darkness is not an album that yields its pleasures easily—it would never have made it on Pitchfork’s list if so—and I’ll look forward to returning to it when the day’s not so bright and I’m facing a long drive to an uncertain destination. Or maybe just the next time it comes up on my iTunes, whatever.

– Jay Gabler

The 1990s Project is my attempt to give the decade’s music a fair shot at disproving my offhand assessment that the 90s were the armpit of modern musical history. The project started on my Tumblr, and has now moved to The Tangential. My goal is to visit, or revisit, 100 of the decade’s most acclaimed, popular, and/or interesting albums. Here are the albums I’ve written about so far.

1. Radiohead, OK Computer (1997)
2. My Bloody Valentine, Loveless (1991)
3. The Flaming Lips, The Soft Bulletin (1999)
4. Moonshake, Eva Luna (1992)
5. Red Hot Chili Peppers, Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991)
6. Liz Phair, Exile in Guyville (1993)
7. Erykah Badu, Baduizm (1997)
8. Neutral Milk Hotel, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (1998)
9. Fugazi, Red Machine (1995)
10. Matthew Sweet, 100% Fun (1995)
11. Pavement, Slanted and Enchanted (1992)
12. The Bodyguard soundtrack (1992)
13. Marcy Playground, Marcy Playground (1997)
14. 10,000 Maniacs, Our Time in Eden (1992)
15. Shania Twain, Come On Over (1997)
16. Dr. Dre, The Chronic (1992)
17. #1 singles of 1990
18. DJ Shadow, Endtroducing….. (1996)
19. Alanis Morissette, Jagged Little Pill (1995)
20. U2, Achtung Baby (1991)
21. #1 singles of 1991