Last month or so Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse, and David Lynch (the crazy, meditation guy who also happens to write and direct surreal movies) released an interestingly moody music project called “Dark Night of the Soul“. . .well sorta. As the story goes Danger Mouse’s contract with EMI kept him from releasing the album for sale LEGALLY but doesn’t forbid releasing a blank CD-R and Lynch’s companion art book full of his subjective photography (supposedly, which visually tells the story behind the music) and hinting that he doesn’t mind if people share the mp3s that are currently available on the net thanks to NPR. Limited to about 5000 copies at $50 a piece, the photography book sold out fast but they now have a nice unnumbered hardback edition over at Amazon for a tad cheaper. 

While a few of the tracks are over-produced in my opinion (gotta know when to pull back so it doesn’t sound like an earful of fuzz) and others are just annoying (the Black Francis and Iggy Pop tracks come to mind), there are several standout tracks like “Star Eyes (I Can’t Catch It)” which is a dreamy and moving journey and my personal favorite on the album (David Lynch is credited as the vocalist, even). Saying that, it’s hard to be overly critical when it comes to free music (a little over 45 minutes worth total). So, go figure out how to download from NPR’s site and enjoy!

Now, about the album title, is it a reference to the writings from Saint John of the Cross or to Bill Murray quoting F. Scott Fitzgerald in “Groundhog Day?”