Customer Reviews

Dark Night Of The Soul [+Digital Booklet] (Amazon Exclusive Version)

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1 star:		(2)

 

 

Let us all pause for a moment, and bow our heads for a brilliant musician. Last March, a deeply depressed Mark Linkous aka Sparklehorse committed suicide.

But before he passed away, Linkous finished one last collaboration with Danger Mouse, appropriately entitled "Dark Night of the Soul." Lots of spacefuzz rock'n'roll and colorful psychedelic pop, with countless guest singers/musicians/composers adding their own unique stylings to the music. And sadly, you can hear some foreshading of Linkous' loss in there.

Every song has guest vocalists who also helped produce and composing their songs. It begins with the warm, liquid psychedelica of "Revenge," in which Wayne Coyne croons sadly, "In my mind/I have shot you and stabbed you through your heart/I just didn't understand/The ricochet is the second part..."

Then it switches to the shimmering, glitchy "Just War" with Gruff Rhys, and the fluttering folk-rock of "Jaykub" with Jason Lytle. After those through songs, there's a brief interlude of pure rock'n'roll -- Julian Casablancas slurs through the lean "Little Girl," Black Francis drawls through the half-baked"Angel's Harp," and Iggy Pop... well, he burns through a fiery expanse of dark hard-rock. What else?

Then things sink back into the spacefuzz again, with James Mercer, Jason Lytle, Vic Chestnutt, David Lynch, Suzanne Vega and Nina Persson all contributing. There's the ethereal electronic "Star Eyes (I Can Catch It)," the twinkly chaotic "Insane Lullaby," the bluesy "Daddy's Gone" and "The Man Who Played God," the melancholy folkpop of "Everytime I'm With You," and with bluesy streamers of synth and mats of grimy guitar in the last two songs.

The biggest problem with "Dark Night of the Soul" is that it sounds like too many different artists -- it often sounds more like a compilation of these various people than a unified album. That said, the only song I didn't like was "Angel's Harps," which just sounded half-baked. The rest of the songs are melancholy, tinged with hopelessness and sadness.

The softer songs are full of different instrumentations -- spacey synth that twinkles, shimmers and glitches, xylophones, soft strings, fuzzy guitars and murmuring vocals. The harder, rockier songs have traces of those things, but they rely more on driving guitar and raw blasts of bass -- a particular highlight is Iggy Pop's song, which starts off as a simple hard-rock song, but blossoms with streams of glittering synth and blooming whorls of guitar.

The guest vocalists also do brilliant jobs -- Wayne Coyne, Jason Lytle and Jason Mercer are particular highlights, but all of them are expertly woven into their music. And the lyrics are simply beautiful -- lots of striking imagery ("But dreams float up/from fishers in the flood"), hopelessness ("The last survivor crawling through the dust/There is just war/A contribution till humankind/Turns to rust") and general sadness ("I woke up and all my yesterdays were gone").

Sparklehorse and Danger Mouse crafted a beautiful, saddening collection of songs that turned out to be Linkous' last work -- I wasn't crazy about Black Francis' song, but all the rest are lovely.

Recorded last year prior to Broken Bells, this Danger Mouse collaborative project has now come out "officially" in Summer 2010 after the various legal wranglings have been settled. (Of course it was available in various ways online long before this CD version.) I find myself liking it even more than the Broken Bells release because the songwriting here tends to be better overall. The BB album had a few excellent songs, but it also had some dropoffs in quality. That kind of inconsistency would seem more likely on a "project" record like Dark Night, with its eleven different singers, but it really hangs together very well. I liked everything except the noisy, chaotic one-two punch of the back-to-back songs featuring Black Francis and Iggy Pop, respectively. (Those two songs are too Tom Waits-ish for me.) There is a degree of gloominess to the proceedings, as one would expect from major contributors Sparklehorse and Lynch, but there also a kind of pervasive luminosity and melodic beauty to the material that's utterly charming. Naturally it's hard not to dwell on the subsequent suicides of both Mark Linkous and Vic Chestnutt within a few months of this album's production, especially hearing the tune Vic sings (called "Grim Augury"!). With Dark Night now part of their final legacies, it leaves me sorry not to be able to hear any more from the two.

Sparklehorse is the pseudonym given to the work of singer/songwriter Mark Linkous who tragically killed himself in Knoxville, TN on March 6 of this year at the age of 47. Originally set for a 2009 release, Dark Night of Soul was designed by Sparklehorse to be a multimedia project with producer Danger Mouse and movie director David Lynch. The anticipation surrounding the album's release grew as guest artists ranging from Julian Casablancas of the Strokes and Frank Black of the Pixies to Iggy Pop and The Flaming Lips added their own unique touch to individual songs on the album.

The album opens with "Revenge" featuring Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips, a slow groove that sets the mood for what I can only describe as the first act of the record. Often seen as one of the few bands comparable to Flaming Lips, Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals follows "Revenge" with "Just War" that lifts the mood slightly while maintaining the slower tempo of its predecessor. Jason Lytle of Grandaddy finishes this first act with "Jaykub" which maintains the dreamy sonic wavering heard on various instruments throughout the start of the album, but once again adds some light to the darkened approach to this Dark Night of Soul.

With the first three tracks flowing so perfectly together, a simple three hits of the snare drum announce a new act, led by The Strokes' Julian Casablancas and the incredibly Strokes-like single "Little Girl." By the time Casablancas' track concludes, it is clear each artist was given a great deal of creative freedom with their collaborative efforts. Any doubts are left behind after Black Francis and Iggy Pop follow Casablancas with tracks that could easily be mistaken for lost tracks by their own respective bands.

Although a 100-page book of photographs by David Lynch accompanies the record, his presence isn't felt in the music until halfway through when the shimmering "Star Eyes (I Can't Catch It)" enters. His compositions play very much like his movies, eerie and intriguing. "Star Eyes" and the closing track "Dark Night of the Soul" may be his only musical contributions, but their artistic and expressive bounds turn from brilliant collaboration to fitting memorial for a talent that took himself from this world far too early. For those of you who have been waiting anxiously for this album to hit the shelves, Dark Night of Soul is a gem worth the delay.

Similar Artists: Pavement, Tom Waits

Track Suggestion: "Star Eyes (I Can't Catch It)"

Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous sadly passed away in March this year. This album, "Dark night of the soul", was actually intended for release summer 2009 but was withheld till now thanks to record company issues, somewhat reminiscent of Producer Danger Mouse's issues with his "The Grey Album" Beatles/Jay-Z mashup.

Thankfully that's all behind now and so we get to listen to Linkous' and Danger Mouse's masterpiece. Featuring a plethora of singers (who also lend their songwriting skills), the collection manages to sound cohesive while still exploring different facets of sound.

Most of the songs are floaty and psychedelic with dark lyrics; "Revenge" with Wayne Coyne ("No you can't hide what you intend, it glows in the dark / Once we become the thing we dread, there's no way to stop." sings Coyne in a breaking voice), "Just war" with Gruff Rhys, the Beatles-esque "Jaykub" and "Everytime I'm with you" both with Jason Lytle, the trippy lullaby-like "Stars Eyes (I can catch it)" and the fuzzy "Insane lullaby" both with James Mercer, the Alt-Country "Daddy's gone" and "The man who played God" both with Nina Persson, the haunting and absolutely beautiful "Grain augury" and the distorted Alt-Country title track, both with Vic Chesnutt.

Raising the tempo are the sunny jangly "Little girl" with Julian Casablancas (sounding like something by Gnarls Barkley with snarling and buzzing guitars and a soulful croon), the crunchy Bluesy "Angel's harp" with Black Francis, and the pulsing absolutely charming "Pain" with a Bowie-esque Iggy Pop (singing "There are good people in this world of bums, but sadly I am not one") and lovely swirling keys.

Everything is an absolute gem really, and I'm hard pressed to pick a favourite. A fitting epitaph.

What a way to go out! Mark Linkous (Sparklehorse) and Danger Mouse have created a sonic masterpiece. This album of haunting songs will continue to imbed itself into your soul more deeply each time it is listened to. I am a music snob, and I have not heard anything this good in at least three or four years. I have listened to, and enjoyed Sparklehorse since the first album, Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot, but he apparently was just hitting his stride as a musician when he created these songs. The all-star guest musicians are great, with Black Francis, Flaming Lips, Strokes, and the outrageous Iggy Pop. BUY THIS RECORD! THERE IS NO POSSIBLE WAY YOU WILL BE DISAPPOINTED! The opening song "Revenge", alone is worth the entire cost of this download. One of the best anti-love songs ever recorded. Don't miss the boat, this album is the one people will be talking about for the next year. So when that music snob friend of yours asks you if you've heard it, you can answer in the affirmative. Such a shame this tremendous talent is no more. Rest in Peace, Mark.

Nice collaborations; what an array! Spacy & dreamy. I can hear both Linkous & Burton's sounds. I have been a Sparklehorse's fan before Danger Mouse's. This CD brings me where I wanted to go...

This is a good project. If you enjoy Gorrilaz or Broken Bells (or even Massive Attack and the like), this seems like a decent choice. "Revenge" is a decent opener that sort of sets up the cd. "Just War" is quyite good as well - though the sample they give here doesnt really show you anything. I found tracks 4 and 5 a bit grating, but "Everytime Im with you" is something I come back to, as is "Insane Lullaby" Overall Id say about 60% of the tracks are standouts, plus the conceptual nature of the cd appeals to me. Its a bit of a durge, but its still quality stuff. Call it 3.5 stars and bump it a full star if you find the cast/idea interesting.

A few other reviewers have astutely observed that each song sounds a bit like the singer's band, i.e. "Just War" sounds like a SFA song, The Julian Casablancas song sounds like the Strokes, The James Mercer song is very Shins-like, etc. I'm not sure if that is a failure or a success of the songwriting (Sparklehorse) and production (Dangermouse) team that gave us Dark Night Of The Soul. However it seems a bit moot considering the way this album made its way to record store shelves: at first tangled in legal hang-ups and threatening to never see release, when it finally did it was overshadowed by Mark Linkous' suicide, and the quiet specter of the recently departed Vic Chestnutt waiting in the wings as well.

These are the last songs we'll be hearing from Linkous, most likely. As such, this is a great legacy he left behind, polished to a pristine dark shine by Dangermouse's studio talents.

There are some immediate standouts, such as the opening cut featuring Wayne Coyne on vocals, a shimmery throwback to Yoshimi/Clouds Taste Metallic-era Lips. Also memorable is Jason Lytle's "Jaykub," which wouldn't sound out of place on his recent solo album. And who would have ever thought David Lynch singing through a vocoder would sound so sublime ("Star Eyes/I Can't Catch It")? Some of the harder rocking numbers miss the shambolic/lo-fi distorto mark of past Sparklehorse burners: The Frank Black song is a little repetitive, the Julian Casablancas song a little slick. But others, like Iggy Pop's yowling dirge "Pain," work on different nerves -- raw, careening, and not taking themselves too serious ("...the shiny people stink"/"I'm a mix of god and monkey"/"etcetera I give up I quit!"/etc.)

This is, essentially, a mind movie. Lynch is the director, perhaps the muse. Linkous wrote the script. And Dangermouse is the cameraman and editor. It's thoughtful, sqeamish, engrossing, and even a little infuriating. The frustration stems from the untimely deaths of some of the participants, and the fact that this whole thing is a long-form meditation on mortality and how awareness of our temporary nature can effect us and even inspire us. It's a dark, often soulful slice of modern pop that dares to tackle unanswerable questions. It works hard to transcend the confines of a mere recording. Does it succeed all the time? Not necessarily, but it strives. And that's life.

This album is incredible top to bottom. Admmitedly, I didn't get the concept until I read about it online, but that adds a whole new layer to the album; in context, all of the songs seem to fit a lot better. There are definitely some standout songs to which I tend to gravitate because of the guest features, but listening through the whole album is a much more rewarding listening experience. It doesn't take more than a few spins to fully appreciate the album as a whole, and I highly recommend looking up the concept before you make your final verdict. I downloaded this album last summer and I'm still listening to it today. Why this hasn't gotten more 5 star reviews is beyond me, but I would make it a priority to listen to this album.

"Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain," Mark Linkous' next-to-last major work, was perhaps the Platonic ideal of a Sparklehorse album, with all the right amounts of fuzz and folk and electronica and pop and focus. To follow up, Linkous left the flickering warmth (and confining walls) of his mountain cave to wander around in this, his criminally underrated "Dark Night of the Soul," which unfortunately proved to be a departure album in one too many ways.

Linkous spent a lot of his "Dark Night" shining the spotlight on a great variety of noteworthy fellow travellers, including Iggy Pop, Black Francis, James Mercer and Vic Chesnutt. (If you don't know who these people are, or if you're unfamiliar with their work, then God help you.) The list of celebrity special guests carrying the mic approaches rap album proportions, but what could have been a cheap stage gimmick often works remarkably well. (It helps that Linkous and Danger Mouse adeptly stage-managed things so that every contributor's perfectly matched to their song.) Here and there, the soul-searching takes things a little far afield; also, the standout moments (the preachy-but-powerful Flaming Lips collaboration "Revenge," Iggy Pop croaking out "I'm a mix of God and monkey" on "Pain," Vic Chesnutt's gothic "Grim Augury") end up being so enjoyable that the others (particularly "Star Eyes") feel like...well, not exactly filler, but something lighter and fluffier than everything else. They say the first rule of showbiz is to always leave them wanting more, and a shorter, tighter, more uniformly dark album might have packed a bit more punch.

Such complaints do feel a bit churlish when measured against the album's special strengths, and its sad circumstances. Released posthumously, "Dark Night of the Soul" ended up becoming one of those bleak-but-beautiful codas (like Joy Division's "Closer") whose finality gives them added layers of sad meaning. It's a bittersweet reminder of what the world lost when Linkous took his own life--a musician's musician, unique and inimitable enough that he could enlist a host of talented others into fleshing out his dark vision; a man whose own dark nights apparently did him in, but who left us a bright and beautiful legacy.