“As boys, we fucked each other / As men, we lie and smile.”  Though the opening line to ‘New Tibet,’ the fourth cut from Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy’s ninth record under that moniker, may be designed to startle, the record as a whole is better encapsulated by the latter image of pleasant languor. A few refreshingly frank lyrical turns aside, this is not a record to flaunt its wares brashly, rather opting to lull the listener with its hushed beauty.

The truth is, Will Oldham is no longer a man with anything to prove; over the course of his 17 year career he has honed his particular brand of country-tinged folk, never stepping too far from his original template. Herein, then, lies this record’s greatest strength and confounding weakness: it is clearly the work of a consummate professional, but a professional who, at this stage of his career, need not emerge from his carefully crafted and comfortable niche.

The most welcome new element on Wolfroy Goes to Town comes in the form of backing vocalist Angel Olsen. Oldham’s earthy tones get a tremblingly beautiful foil in her voice on most of these tracks, with many of the album’s most memorable moments coming from their complex harmonic interplay. This is what saves the meandering structure of ‘Cows,’ where the vocals take on the air of a sinister religious chant that is charged with more energy than anything that has come before it.

Ultimately, though, this is less a work of highs and lows than of relentless consistency. The unconventional song structures unspool at a slow pace, with only ‘Quail and Dumplings’ speeding things; it is an album that demands the listener come to it. While the rewards are often gorgeous, they are perhaps just not quite enough to justify the effort.