Bonnie “Prince” Billy shares new song “Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You”

There’s a time and a season for everything, they tell us – and now we find ourselves at the end of the Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You season. No, the new album won’t go away – and the Bonnie ‘Prince’ will continue to tour – but the cycle of release, the unboxing as it were, is drawing to a close. Fittingly, it goes out with a mighty soar: an epic reading of the title song to the album – a song, by-the-by that, for royal reasons, and no concern of ours, wasn’t included in the album. It isn’t still. It stands marvellously on its own. When heard in concert, it provokes questions like, where is that song and how can I have it? You don’t have to consult the almanac or pretend to understand time and seasons – mostly, you just have to live them.  

The KSWDY album was recorded hermetically, so to speak – in a Louisville house, with local musicians, as a necessity of what we hope will be a season that never returns. Here at other end of that tunnel, is “Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You” – a song that Bonny travelled to record, and made with a larger, non-local ensemble. Almost as if it was made in a different timeline and brought back here, to release us to future days. Songs have many lives, just like you and me too. “Keeping Secrets will Destroy You” was played by Bonny, Shahzad Ismaily, Emmett Kelly, Jim Keltner and Blake Mills, and features the singing of Lacey Guthrie, Katie Peabody and Heather Summers. 

The video, directed by Adam Laity, transports us to breathtaking and stunning natural landscapes, allowing us to experience the beauty of the world in a few short minutes. Speaking on the concept of the video, Laity writes: "Will sent me the demo for "Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You" about a year ago. I found the song so romantic - the idea of chucking a suitcase in car and heading off on a journey with a lover. And also the humility in the idea of being unable to grow old if we don't come to terms with our faults, in the way that only someone you're in love with can reveal to you. Agnes Varda said 'If we opened people up, we'd find landscapes.' The video is really about the affective resonance that landscapes can have for us, that sometimes last our whole lives. It started with the idea of clouds passing over Will's face, and really it just grew from there. I wasn't particularly interested in the video 'making sense', but rather it was about trying to visualize the energy and flow of the song." 

Additionally, BPB has launched a Destroy You, Keeping Secrets Will beer with independent Kendal brewery Gan Yam. Their brewer Jonathan Le Mare said of the collaboration: “As soon as Will mentioned he was keen to have a beer with medicinal properties we knew this was a project we'd love to be involved in. Looking for something that fitted the bill we landed on yarrow which is a plant that has been used since ancient times in brewing beer long before hops were used, in part, for its many and varied healing properties. With great serendipity Will happened to have some yarrow growing in his garden and reported back on a cup of tea he made, saying it was 'fascinating and lovely', this felt like all the confirmation we needed that we were on the right track. The final beer is a 6.1% sour yarrow gruit, gruit being the term for a beer made without hops. The yarrow has a green tea like quality and the beer itself is delicate and very refreshing. This is a beer we are very proud of and it's been great to have the opportunity to brew such a historical and interesting beer alongside Will.”  

The beer is available to buy here.