Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse, alongside iconic names like Iggy Pop and David Lynch, release a haunting, heavy, and expertly-crafted collaboration for the ages with Dark Night of the Soul.
In a move guaranteed to please hipsters of every stripe, Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse’s Mark Linkous have teamed up to create an all-star album, featuring luminaries as disparate as Suzanne Vega, Iggy Pop, Julian Casablancas, and legendary filmmaker David Lynch. Dark Night of the Soul’s indie noir shifts like midnight fog to suit each contributor’s vocal personality. Strokes leader Casablancas, for example, perfectly fits the downtown jangle of “Little Girl,” and the narcotic fuzz of “Pain” slithers around Iggy Pop’s weathered croon like a vapor memory of the Stooges. Danger Mouse’s production wizardry is readily apparent throughout, as electronic textures color the orchestration, skittering on the periphery of many tracks and taking center stage on some, which meshes well with Linkous’ rusted lo-fi approach to songwriting. Lynch, for his part, has taken a series of photos that accompany the songs and gamely sings the final, ominous title track.
