Days in the Wake

The second Palace Brothers album was originally self-titled (or untitled), though the moniker DAYS IN THE WAKE was appended to later pressings. The release is at once a progression from and reduction of the twisted lo-fi country-folk of the debut album. DAYS is essentially just Oldham, his cracked tenor and his acoustic guitar.
The songs aren't as unremittingly dark as on the previous recording, since Oldham injects a fair amount of stream-of-consciousness humor and light-hearted, elliptical song-poetry. The extreme sparseness amplifies the emotion in Oldham's voice and lyrics though, and on "You Will Miss Me When I Burn" the emotional desolation is harrowing, bringing to mind the best work of Mark Eitzel. The brainy non-sequitirs of the closing "I Am a Cinematographer" are evidence that there's more forethought than savant at work in Oldham's artistic process.