Playful Oldham Less Mournful

“I have conquered the fear of death, but the fear of life is still there,” Bonnie Prince Billy sang during his show at the Knitting Factory Hollywood on Sunday, adapting D.H. Lawrence into the service of his existential music. That line has the ring of a cornerstone thesis, and in his show the singer ranged deep into hollows of human dread.

Never heard of Bonnie Prince Billy? Well, he’s actually Will Oldham, a Louisville, Ky., native who for the past decade has staked out a distinctive turf in the indie-rock world under the names Palace, Palace Music and the Palace Brothers, as well as his own.

Never heard of Will Oldham? Well, the recognition figures to climb a few notches with the placement of his “I See a Darkness” on the new Johnny Cash album, with the writer assisting Cash on vocals.

Sunday’s show was a demonstration that when he wants to, this elusive, often contrary artist can be flat-out accessible. Maybe it’s that new name, or, more likely, the accompaniment of the Anomoanon, a five-piece band fronted by his brother, Ned Oldham.

Resembling an aging Wally Cleaver with a receding hairline, the bearded Oldham--er, Prince Billy--led the group through a fearsomely intense set that visited old songs, previewed material from an album due in the spring.

Often evoking Dylan and the Band’s “Basement Tapes” in its roughhewn, roots-aware configurations, the music was playfully dark and darkly playful, a bracing display of howling-into-the-void rock that shredded memories of the sometimes lugubrious performer he has been in past incarnations.