When I first heard about the exhibit, it seemed like a hipster dream come true: A musical collaboration between Sparklehorse and Danger Mouse that blossomed into a full-size photography exhibit with David Lynch’s so called “visual interpretations” of the hypnotic album. Nevertheless, as a Lynch fan myself, I decided to experience it firsthand and I recommend you do the same.
The history of the exhibit is unwieldy: Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse stumbled into a musical partnership, creating an album of instrumental tracks and then roping in artists such as Iggy Pop and James Mercer to set lyrics to the music. A tug-of-war with Danger Mouse’s label, EMI, resulted in the album, Dark Night of the Soul, being locked in legal limbo- it has yet to be released to the public. Not to fear: the die-hard fans can get a preview of the music by going to the exhibit.
Lucky for you, we have a sample here.
The entrance to the exhibit was a bit frustrating to discover (you need to go around the back alleyway) and the music perhaps a bit too demure, but as for the photographs themselves Lynch did not dissapoint. They came in sets of three or four and corresponded to each song, and the range of moods were reminiscent of those of a manic-depressive: one set centered around a man with a wild grin on his face floating among bits of shining glass, while another set was murky black with barely-there ghostly faces emerging upon closer inspection. Lynch’s trademark weirdness was not neglected- one photo was of a kitchy 50s family gathered around a huge swollen head on a dinner table, and another of a menacing hand extended with a toy lamb upon the palm.
Regardless of which of the three you like the best, I would recommend giving this exhibit a visit. It is housed at the Michael Kohn Gallery in Los Angeles and admission is free- do you even need another reason to go check it out?
Nice post! I have a recent post regarding this menagerie at Heroes of Indie Music. Peace.