Spin magazine - July 2009 - DEPARTMENTS (Page 35)

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the perfect summer mix

Dark Night Returns

The mystery behind Danger Mouse’s new project

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FANS OF TRIPPY pop and nonexistent animals had reason to celebrate earlier this year: Danger Mouse (Brian Burton) and Sparklehorse (Mark Linkous) had teamed up to record an album of moody rock songs featuring vocals by famous friends such as Iggy Pop, Julian Casablancas, and even lmmaker David Lynch. Better yet, the album, titled Dark Night of the Soul, would be packaged with a book of enigmatic Lynch photos. But in May, the duo announced the album wouldn’t be released at all because of some unspeci ed “legal dispute” with EMI. (Whether this had anything to do with Danger Mouse pilfering from EMI’s Beatles catalog for The Grey Album is anyone’s guess.) Instead, the book will come with a blank CD and a note obliquely encouraging people to download the music online. While Danger Mouse didn’t open up about the EMI fracas, he, Lynch, and Sparklehorse did shine a faint light on their mysterious project. DAVID MARCHESE

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too disturbing to talk about. L YNCH: Well, yes. It was brought on by life. I spent ve years living in Philadelphia in the mid-1960s. There was a lot of violence in the neighborhood where I was living at the time. It was terrible.

so I made sure I didn’t cry.
SPARKLEHORSE: Physically,
every day. I had an accident
with my legs a few years
ago. I feel pain whenever
I walk.
L YNCH: I don’t like speaking in
public, and I’ve been doing a lot
of that lately. It’s a psychological
pain. That counts.

Is there anything that people
should know about the album
before hearing it?
DANGER MOUSE: No. In an ideal
world, the album would just
show up unannounced and
people would seek it out
because they were intrigued for
whatever reason. The idea is
that the less that people know
about the album, the more
they’ll get out of it.
SPARKLEHORSE: The only thing
that people need to know is that
we worked really hard on it.
DAVID LYNCH: Doing the tracks
and then asking di erent people
to sing over it is a very modern
concept that could lead to
great things in the future. More
people should try it.

Ever have a dark night of
the soul?
DANGER MOUSE: I’d rather not
say anything that might color
people’s perception of the
album. And, you know, if I
answered this question, I’d go
into some personal stu that I
don’t want to go into.
SPARKLEHORSE: If I had some
funny answer, I’d give it to you,
but the stu in my head is just

Which animal would win in
a ght: a Danger Mouse or a
Sparklehorse?
DANGER MOUSE: A Sparklehorse.
It doesn’t sound as mean as a
Danger Mouse, but it’s more
clever.
SPARKLEHORSE: De nitely the
Danger Mouse. It’s more
cunning and Machiavellian. It’d
sneak up behind the Sparkle-
horse and stab it in the back.
LYNCH: A horse is a lot bigger,
but Sparklehorses are beautiful,
not dangerous. So the mouse
would have a chance. The
mouse would de nitely have
a chance.

Were there any artists you
wanted to contribute to the
album but couldn’t get?
DANGER MOUSE: There wasn’t
anyone. Let’s not ruin the cool-
ness of what this is by talking
about what it isn’t.
SPARKLEHORSE: Beth Gibbons
from Portishead.
L YNCH: The list would go on
forever.

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Iggy Pop’s song on the album is called “Pain.” When did you last feel that sensation? DANGER MOUSE: About a week ago I dropped a bowling ball on my foot. I was with some girls,

What’s your favorite David
Lynch movie?
DANGER MOUSE: If I named
one, it would be unfair to the
rest of them.
SPARKLEHORSE: Twin Peaks:
Fire Walk With Me scared the
shit out of me.
L YNCH: A decent parent
doesn’t love one child more
than the others.

DAVID LYNCH