Bonnie “Prince” Billy & The Cairo Gang: The Wonder Show Of The World

The latest Bonnie “Prince” Billy album elevates The Cairo Gang’s main man, Emmett Kelly, from bit player to key collaborator, making prominent use of the avant-folkie’s voice and guitar as they wind easily around Will Oldham’s. The Wonder Show Of The World relies equally on Oldham’s in-the-moment spontaneity and the kind of ghostly after-the-fact orchestrations that Kelly brings to his own work. The album-opener, “Troublesome Houses,” sets the tone, coming out rhymeless and rhythmless: Its hook is little more than a two-note guitar signature, joined by little wisps of sound, as though friends wandered by, dug what Oldham and Kelly were doing, and were inspired to pick up their own instruments.