We’re thrilled to present Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse’s collaborative album “Dark Night of the Soul” streaming in its entirety on KCRW as our Album Preview this week. DJ Eric J Lawrence tells us more about the long awaited official release of this album below.
Editor’s Note: You can hear a live version of “Insane Lullaby” performed on Morning Becomes Eclectic when Broken Bells were in for a session and make sure to tune in on July 13 when we air an interview with David Lynch and Danger Mouse (aka Brian Burton). They sat down with Music Director Jason Bentley to talk together for the first time about their collaboration.
More from DJ Eric J Lawrence:
“With one of the most tortured paths to eventual release of all time, Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse’s collaborative album Dark Night of the Soul is finally being made available to music fans everywhere this month. But it almost didn’t happen.
Rumors of the project first began to circulate in early 2009. In addition to the two title artists, the album was slated to feature special appearances from an army of amazing guests, including The Flaming Lips, Julian Casablancas of The Strokes, Frank Black of The Pixies, Iggy Pop, Suzanne Vega, James Mercer of The Shins (in anticipation of his work with Danger Mouse in Broken Bells), and David Lynch (whose photography was to grace a deluxe edition of the record), to name just a few. But due to contractual issues, it was prevented from coming out at that time. The package, complete with Lynch’s photos, did get released in a limited edition, but it was accompanied by a blank CD. A very few outlets, including KCRW, managed to get a copy of the music to play for its listeners, but it was not available for sale and word was that it may never be legally distributed.
Thankfully, more than a year later, the parties were able to work things out and this beautiful, haunting album can now be officially released. However this news is tempered by the fact that Mark Linkous, the main force behind Sparklehorse, tragically took his life on March 6, 2010. Consequently the record becomes a posthumous tribute to Linkous’ unique, oft-overlooked talent.”