Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse - "Dark Night Of The Soul"

“Dark night of the soul is a metaphor used to describe a phase in a person's spiritual life, marked by a sense of loneliness and desolation. It is referenced by spiritual traditions throughout the world, but in particular by Christianity.” - Wikipedia

Well, that explains David Lynch’s cover art of an open hand holding a lamb for Dark Night Of The Soul, the long awaited CD from Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse. And well worth the wait for the legal resolution. I heard about this recording over my car radio in 2009. It had leaked out and was rumored to maybe never seeing the light of day. Appropriate, I thought, given the title.

Still, I was excited. If this was the soundtrack was for a David Lynch project then surely this was the follow-up to Inland Empire, his Oscar nominated film from 2006. No such luck. Turns out it was meant as accompaniment to a limited edition book of David Lynch’s photographs.

Producer previously on 2005’s Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of the Mountain. Dark Night Of The Soul is a series of collaborations (mostly) between Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse (a.k.a. Mark Linkous) and a vocalist/composer such as Iggy Pop, Suzanne Vega, and Vic Chesnutt. Only Jason Lytle and David Lynch get two turns at the microphone.


First up is The Flaming Lips. Really just two Lips as only vocalist/guitarist Wayne Coyne and musical mastermind Steven Drozd are present. (Drozd also worked with Dange Mouse and Sparklehorse on 2005’s Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of the Mountain.) What have they put in Wayne Coyne’s water? The Flaming Lips are on such a creative roll recently with Embryonic and their remake Dark Side Of The Moon with Stardeath and The White Dwarfs, it is stunning. (And I just noticed the semblance between album titles!)

The opening line of ‘Revenge’ – “Pain. I guess it’s a matter of sensation.” – sets the tone for the whole of Dark Night Of The Soul. I don’t usually take note of lyrics on first listen but there is no escaping “Pain. I guess it’s a matter of sensation.” set over mournful, yet swanlike keyboards that hint at times at ‘Do You Realize??’. Wayne is usually so positive that it is odd to hear him talking about shooting someone, which he does with such sharpshooter precision that it really hits the mark. The song builds up to a clattering conclusion. Not noisy, just bumpy. It’s a staple of all the recordings on Dark Night Of The Soul: all the songs’ endings are worth sticking around for.


At first I thought it was the bell ringing ‘Just War’ in that made me think of ‘(Just Like) Starting Over’. The faintly fifties rock chords contributed to that feel too. And then I saw it: the ‘Free As A Bird’ melody of Lennon’s. And like The Beatles’ version builds up to a fluttering of wings, ‘Just War’ builds until the sonic curtain is pulled back briefly, revealing a street scene: the first hint that certain tracks on Dark Night Of The Soul will be dissonant. Then 1960s pop keys begin percolating: the type heard on Burt Bacharach or Neil Sedaka recordings.

With its ironic title, Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals, ‘Just War’ is as much about hurt as ‘Revenge’ was. But it’s a male hurt. Despite the pop keys and lush production of the songs that comprise Dark Night Of The Soul, there is lurking pain and hurt in every song, the type of hurt and pain all males will recognize because it appeals to the boys we were that we try to keep hidden.


‘Jaykub’ is immediately catchy with its “Jaykub … it’s time for you to wake up” opening couplet. It’s creepy too. There’s some sort of award to be accepted and it doesn’t sound like one you want to win. Jason Lyttle is a member of Grandaddy, a band of some note (and recommended: they were the indie world’s flavor of the quarter a few years back) and this is a winning track.


Just as you’re getting antsy for something a little more ballsy, in walks Julian Casablancas with his jumpy ‘Little Girl’. Casablancas has come a long way as a vocalist since The Strokes’ Is This It? debut. Back then he was a pretty good Lou Reed imitator and able to do Lou Reed Number 4 as well as Lou Reed Number 5. (Check out Lou’s underrated Take No Prisoners live album if you’re curious about what I’m talking about. Not only will you hear Lou with a peak backing band promoting a peak album (i.e., Street Hassle), you’ll find that Lou is so funny he could have held his own with Henny Youngman.) Almost ten years later, Casablancas is the best vocalist of his generation. He’s not whiny like so many others and is voice so distinct. Hearing it makes me really excited that The Strokes are working on their fourth album.

This song steals the show and that’s no small feat considering the quality of the performances gathered here. Casablancas guitar playing is better than I expected - and made me interested in his recent solo album – but it is the lyrics that leave a lasting impression. The ‘Little Girl’ is that ubiquitous woman that shows up in every male’s life ruining everything and yet he would rather not have lived at all if living meant never meeting her. I’m not a big one on quoting lyrics in reviews but dig this:

She’s a tortured little girl
Showing them what life is all about
Where did all the wine go?
Every time it’s gone

You can’t help tapping your toes to a song that’s ultimately about fate.


Even with the girl being shot in ‘Revenge’, ‘Angel’s Harp’ is the song where you realize there some serious stuff going on here. Pop keys and pleasant vocals have so far cloaked trouble. With Black Francis singing repeatedly that he’s “working all day on my angel’s harp.” you realize if all these songs share something – other than hurt and pain – its suicidal tendencies because the image of a man working in his angel’s harp is the first hint of suicide, at least that’s my take on it. You could say he’s working on his girlfriend’s harp I suppose but that ignores the loneliness and despair inherent in these tracks. If this guy ever had a girlfriend, she’s long gone … and someone being gone is another image that grows more frequent during the second half of Dark Night Of The Soul. The more I think about it, ‘Angel’s Harp’ is about a man in his woodshed planning his own death.


Leave it to Iggy to provide the most straight forward rocker on Dark Night Of The Soul. It’s got drive and lead guitar and great lyrics. Again, I do not normally pick up on lyrics but you cannot miss lines like “My headache is gone … means I do not feel well.” or “Good karma won’t get you anywhere. Look at Jesus and his hair.” The whole painful side has been building up to this track full of release and Iggy won’t let you get out of the way.

Iggy’s been around for so long that we take him for granted. We take his talent at making rockers like this for granted. He steps up to the mike with his baritone and howls into the mike like he’s been doing for over forty years. I can picture him there with his bare chest and his long hair crooning punkishly into the studio microphone.. He’s had one life I would’ve liked to have lived.


I find the tracks between the three principal collaborators the diciest. ‘Star Eyes (I Can’t Catch It)’ features carefully picked. ringing, distorted notes and Lynch’s heavily treated vocals. The drive provided by Iggy Pop has been put back in the box with the jacks. It’s nighttime with Lynch wallowing in the kitsch that sometimes plagues his films. I suppose this song has something to do with dreams and the inability to catch the falling star we’ve wished on.


A pleasant song about getting trashed and being fucked up without the faux pain, without the blasting electric guitars trying to stand in for a desperate situation. Instead we get a pleasant song with skating rink keys, the likes of which I haven’t heard since the 45 version of The Specials’ ‘Do Nothing’. This is another song from the Granddaddy front man. I love the way he sings “Everytime I’m with you I’m fucked up. And you are too.” It’s the “And you are too.” that completes the reach for capturing a real moment. It brought back days in Whitestone, Queens for me wrestling with a manic depressive girlfriend and I’m sure it’ll take you somewhere too. This is the odd song on this collection in that the ending just ends. Almost all of the other twelve songs dissolve.


James Mercer has already appeared on Dark Night Of The Soul – he contributed background vocals on ‘Just War’ – but this the turn in the spotlight for the former Shins leader. It’s also better than anything heard on Broken Bells, the CD he released earlier this year with Danger Mouse. It’s one of the noisier tracks. Not loud, noisy. ‘Insane Lullaby’ is the first of two songs linked by a bell that both reach back to childhood memories. The Shins were one of the worse groups I’ve ever seen and so although I liked their albums, especially Chutes Too Narrow, I think it’s a good thing they broke-up. Personally I think Mercer is best suited as a songwriter rather than performer, although he does have distinct voice. I’m sort of surprised that this is my second favorite track; makes me question trading in Broken Bells some months back.


Featuring no one but really featuring Sparklehorse who sings about a father leaving, presumably to make money but you get the feeling he never comes back. It’s a pleasant song about a child’s broken heart. When sparklehorse sings several times towards the end “Wondering if mt yesterdays are gone.” it struck me that he was singing about Paul McCartney’s concept of yesterday and a song I didn’t care for at first swelled with poignancy.


“All gone.” begins Suzanne Vega, picking up on the previous number. Not only is Daddy gone but so too is everything else. The verses end with “One two three. You could be. Made to play God.” with its Wilcoish lilt (reminiscent of ‘Jesus, Etc.’) I believe this to be saying you can end it all. You can kill yourself. You can play God. The angel’s harp is built and weeping in a corner. The man who built it is ready to play God. I wonder if Danger Mouse, Sparkehorse and David Lynch gave directions to the songwriters - if they sketched out an arc - because there is unmistakable movement towards suicide throughout Dark Night Of The Soul. Or maybe Lynch’s photos just guided them there.


The foreshadowing of doom hanging over all of the previous tracks is brought to the forefront on Vic Chestnutt’s contribution: a gloomy number that reminds one of Tom Waits or Nick Cave at their most funereal. The shortest track of Dark Night Of The Soul is one of the two most potent lyrically: the yang with grandmothers and carving knives and catfish in a kitchen sink. I never saw Vic Chesnutt perform, but, unlike Iggy Pop, his is not a life I would’ve wanted to have had. He was injured in a car accident way back in 1983 and left partially paralyzed. That’s why this feels so much more sincere than Tom Wait or Nick Cave singing. Chestnut’s singing of a grim augury feels to be more than just art. This is a suicide note.


Stormy static sets the scene for David Lynch’s second turn at the mike. Since Lynch is such a cinematic genius it seems fitting to say the movie scene this sound of static brings to mind is poor Alex in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange stumbling up to the writer’s house in the pouring rain. And like Alex’s, there’s no way out except to snuff it.

Dark Night Of The Soul is the most depressing recording I’ve heard since Joy Division’s Closer, largely in part because two of the participants – Sparklehorse and Vic Chestnutt – have committed suicide since the sessions. Like Ian Curtis they’re hurting, closing in on an extreme solution. Like Closer their work, their lyrics, their vocals take on added importance due to their suicides. These are serious songs: Pop at its ironic best.

(Please note: the MP3 download also features additional instrumental versions of ‘Revenge’ and ‘Everytime I’m With You’)