Dark Night of The Soul

Most by now have heard the hullabaloo surrounding the release of the Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse (Mark Linkous) and David Lynch collaboration so elegantly titled, Dark Night of The Soul. In a nutshell, Danger Mouse heard some unreleased material by Sparklehorse’s Mark Linkous and wanted to join forces. With the assistance of some highly renowned vocalists including James Mercer of The Shins, Wayne Coyne of the The Flaming Lips, Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals, Jason Lytle of Grandaddy, Julian Casablancas of The Strokes, Frank Black of the Pixies, Iggy Pop, Nina Persson of The Cardigans, Suzanne Vega, Vic Chesnutt, David Lynch, and Scott Spillane of Neutral Milk Hotel and The Gerbils, these two music innovators then commissioned David Lynch to create a book of photography to go with the theme (he also sings on two of the tracks!!). Although the concept behind the record sounds incredibly intruiging, I can’t help but feel somewhat disappointed in what we get in terms of the music. Yes, the tracks are produced well and the singers for each are appropriate, but there is still something lacking to really make this as forward-thinking as the title suggest. Perhaps it’s the familiarity of the chord progressions from Sparklehorse’s previous work or the lack of innovation interjected into recreating these older tracks into something brand new. The songs seem a bit fleeting and I only returned to a selected few for repeat listens. Bottom line: it could have been better executed to fit with the theme of Dark Night of The Soul. The music on the album just doesn’t feel very dark or moody. Lyrically, we hear Linkous' trademark prose both surreal and metaphoric and I did enjoy several tracks on the record including "Revenge", "Everytime I'm With You", "Insane Lulluby", and "Dark Night of The Soul" (the last very effectively capturing the hypnotic, eerie, atmospheric feel of Julie Cruise from David Lynch's Twin Peaks days).

Dark Night Of The Soul may never be officially released with the actual music thanks to an ongoing grudge between EMI and Danger Mouse (currently they are shipping the album with artwork and photography book by David Lynch with a blank CD with the intentions of hoping you will just download it from the web) but if you’re a fan of any of the guest vocalists it's definitely worth a listen. Just don’t go into it expecting anything darker that vanilla.
Grade: 7.5