David Lynch Rocks
Seriously. The guy’s making records.
You know that feeling when you’re dreaming? The world is soft then, and a drugged-out man in makeup is lip syncing ballads into a worklight, making gangsters cry. Then your grandparents are banging hard on your front door but you’re trembling and too afraid to answer, so they shrink down to inches and crawl underneath the crack to chase you, hands out, smiling weird and mechanical and crazy. Know that feeling? So does auteur David Lynch. He’s been making his career on it, actually, recreating worlds in his films where nonsense and impossible are accepted givens, and emotion and reaction are what drive thought, never logic. But now, the trailblazer that he is, Lynch is moving onto music, writing lyrics for established artists to translate his surreal, dark and beautiful touch into sound.
It all started back in 2006 when Lynch wrote and produced a set of songs with the session players from the TV cult juggernaut Twin Peaks. But when the band’s vocalist/guitarist Dave Jaurequi died, they were put on the shelf with hardly anyone knowing they were even in the works. Still, Lynch’s interest was piqued. So when DANGER MOUSE and Mark Linkous of SPARKLEHORSE came together to make an indie supergroup album called Dark Night of the Soul–featuring artists from THE SHINS, THE FLAMING LIPS, THE STROKES, the PIXIES, NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL, IGGY POP and more–most people were stumped when they saw David Lynch’s name attached.
Long story short, Lynch had a hand (and a voice) in two of the tracks in Dark Night of the Soul and made a 100+ photo book that was to accompany the album upon its release, a sort of visual narrative to take in while listening. This is where it gets confusing, though.
According to DANGER MOUSE, “due to an ongoing dispute with [the record company]” the book of photographs will now be released with a blank CD-R and a note that reads, “For legal reasons, enclosed CD-R contains no music. Use it as you will.” That was about a month ago. So basically, because of issues with the record company, the album never actually came out, and the band is now marketing their photo book with a good old fashioned skull and crossbones attached.
I like it. If nothing else, the whole incident makes for a pretty good “Art vs. System” story. Even cooler, though: the band opened their album up to the public online. NPR got the exclusive first listen, and you can go to their site to stream the whole album for free, as well as get the specifics on who’s in each track. You can also go to DNOTS’ homepage to buy the book and check out some of the pictures. Pretty sweet.
So there’s that. But that’s just a taste of Lynch-lead audio. Now, FOX BAT STRATEGY: A TRIBUTE TO DAVE JAUREQUI, that’s a whole meal. This is Lynch’s 2006 shelf baby. This is the one where he’s leading the charge, with the band from his old series, and his own production and his lyrics.
“This is what I call ‘modern ’50s’ music,” Lynch describes the album. “I love that ’50s feel of innocence and pain mingling.”
And it’s easy to be taken with the kind of music Lynch is talking about, the kind he uses in his films. They’ve always reminded me of a disturbing kind of distorted nostalgia, a dreamy and hypnotic kind of dying. I don’t know. It’s the kind of thing that resists being put into words. But I can say this: even though Lynch won’t be performing in FOX BAT STRATEGY, if it ends up sounding anything like his tracks in Dark Night of the Soul, or the tunes in his movies, then I’m expecting trance-y and disorienting things–the stuff of dreams you hate waking from.
Dave Jaurequi, to whom the piece is tributed, Lynch explains, “was not a singer. He was a guitarist, a fantastic one, but I asked him to sing and speak these lyrics of mine, because I had a hunch that proved correct: he had great phrasing, and I love the grain of his voice….I think about him a lot, and wish we’d been able to record more than the seven songs that are on this album.”
Here’s the album’s setllist, and you can listen to one track, “Shoot the Works, here, on Entertainment Weekly’s site. The album’s due out June 30th.
1. “They Go Down”
2. “Lost on Cahuenga”
3. “Almost an Angel”
4. “Shoot the Works”
5. “You’re the One”
6. “Rollin’ Down With You”
7. “I Dream of You”
Last note: Sure, Lynch is obviously no stranger to new ground. It seems with half the things he’s done in the past he’s established some kind of new plateau for others to aspire to. But recently, it’s like he’s doing it double time. His last movie, Inland Empire, was shot digitally and on the cheap. After his own disputes with his own production companies, Lynch decided that super-indie self-production was the way to go. And so he made his own studio and did so much of whatever the hell he wanted in Inland Empire, that it makes the cross-eye-inducing Mulholland Drive look like a pretty traditional art houser.
It’s just so inexpensive, so much freedom, he argues, that making and marketing through the internet will no doubt be the next frontier for all entertainment. Whether that’s true or not, you can go to Lynch’s homepage, where’s his latest filmic adventure, Interview Project, can be seen: a 70-day, 20,000 mile road trip across America, where 121 various people (found anywhere: the side of the road, in bars) were interviewed. He describes it as “something that’s human, and you can’t stay away from it.”
This entry was posted on Sunday, June 21st, 2009 at 3:39 pm and is filed under film, music, prog-unrelated, whatever else. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
