REVIEW: Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse - Dark Night Of The Soul

The recent, tragic death of Mark ‘Sparklehorse’ Linkous saw the loss of a highly revered songwriter, whose music is idiosyncratic and introverted in equal measure. The final project that he worked on was a collaboration with uber-producer Danger Mouse, with whom he created Dark Night Of The Soul, a full-bodied and weighty collection of thoughtful songs, featuring a bevy of guest vocalists. The conceit was born during the pair’s work on the Sparklehorse album Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly Of A Mountain, for which Linkous had written a number of songs that he wasn’t comfortable singing himself. These became the starting point for Dark Night, whose contributors include Flaming Lips, Julian Casablancas, Iggy Pop and Frank Black among many others.

Together with Danger Mouse, whose C.V. includes Gnarls Barkley, Gorillaz, Beck and most recently Broken Bell, Linkous’ typically shadowy gloom-pop grows in strength to become a bombastic and frequently nightmarish symphony. The album is accompanied by photography from filmmaker David Lynch, whose images serve to reflect the themes of the album.