Bonny Light Horseman
Keep Me on Your Mind / See You Free
JAGJAGUWAR
ABOVE THE CURRENT
When three lifelong indie-folk musicians—Fruit Bats’ Eric D. Johnson, songwriter Anaïs Mitchell, and producer/session player Josh Kaufman—came together to form a band back in 2018, they decided to name both their group and their debut album after a traditional folk lament that dates back to the Napoleonic Wars. If that sounds like extremely niche stuff, that’s because it is. The hardest way to sell a band like Bonny Light Horseman is to describe them. Centuries-old ballads? Scottish folk songs sung in three-part harmony? This isn’t sexy stuff. Even as their second album moved toward original compositions, the whole project remained steeped in the kind of deep history that’s just not going to light everyone’s fire. Although this very much is the kind of thing that lights my fire, even I must admit that an hour-long, 20-song double album of this kind really has to hit.
One thing that can’t be denied is the band’s commitment to such an endeavor. In a move that can only be described as hammering the nail on the head, Keep Me on Your Mind / See You Free was recorded in a centuries-old pub in County Cork, Ireland called Levis Corner House, with the assistance of session musicians. In moments as quiet and bare as opener “Keep Me On Your Mind,” you can practically feel the dark, weathered wood paneling and hear the clink of Guinness-stained pint glasses. Elsewhere, like on the 30-second interlude “think of the royalties, lads,” you can literally hear the room noise, a choice that would feel indulgent if it wasn’t so damn charming. Though there are certainly other examples sprinkled throughout, the song that most conclusively conjures the vibes the band so clearly treasures is “Hare and Hound,” a toe-tapping ditty that might as well be a few centuries old.
The quietest moments on the album rely heavily on the chemistry of its three stars. “Into the O” features little else besides three-part harmony—Kaufman, Mitchell, and Johnson chewing the scenery as they weave through each other. These are immensely talented musicians in their own right; Mitchell is known best for her work on concept-album-turned-breakout-musical Hadestown; Kaufman for his work behind the scenes with the likes of Taylor Swift, The National, and Craig Finn; and Johnson for churning out 10 records with Fruit Bats, to say nothing of a mid-period stint in The Shins. Within the context of Keep Me on Your Mind, it’s often the latter who shines the brightest. Always a talented vocalist, songs like “Old Dutch” and “When I Was Younger” feel like showcases for Johnson’s growing bravado as a vocalist. Even tracks inherently reliant on the interplay between his voice and Mitchell’s (e.g. the highflying “Lover Take It Easy”) often begin and end with Johnson’s jubilant howl.
Despite all the trappings of Keep Me on Your Mind / See You Free, the truth is this might very well be the Bonny Light Horseman record least beholden to the traditional mindset with which the project was born. Arcane as some of the band’s reference points may be, this is a record of full-throated folk rock, unabashed and expansive. And rather than dull the edges of what the trio does best, it leads to some of the best work they’ve created together or as individuals.
