Dark Night of the Soul is an album by the indie rock band Sparklehorse and Danger Mouse. It is an album that became famous even before its release. The reason for this is that the full album was released a year after the announced date of the official date of release. In the following paragraphs, you will find detailed and relevant information about the legal dispute that led to the postponement.
We will also focus on the artists who have worked on the album. A list of all the songs included in it will be presented, as well. Fans of Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse can be positive that this is the most informative read with respect to the 2010 album Dark Night of the Soul.
Who Is Danger Mouse?
Before we give you more information about Dark Night of the Soul, we think it’s good to deliver some more details about the artists standing behind its creation. First, let us talk about Danger Mouse. The person behind this pseudonym is Brian Joseph Burton. He is an American songwriter, musician, and record producer who has been in the music business for more than 20 years.
One of his greatest works is undoubtedly The Grey Album, which has contributed significantly to his popularity. Damon Albarn, an Icelandic musician, was so impressed with The Grey Album that he asked Danger Mouse to produce his band’s second album called Demon Days, which eventually led to Brian being nominated for a Producer of the Year award. Over the years, the artist has had many other successful projects, and one of the most notable ones was certainly the creation of Dark Night of the Soul.
Who Are the Sparklehorse?
As mentioned earlier, Dark Night of the Soul is a collaboration between Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse. Sparklehorse was a well-known indie rock band led by Mark Linkous. The band was very popular between 1998 and 2008. During the years of his musical career, the leading artist went through many difficult moments due to depression. Unfortunately, he committed suicide shortly after the release of Dark Night of the Soul.
The Creation of the Dark Night of the Soul
It is widely believed that the name of the album is inspired by Juan de la Cruz’s poem La noche oscura del alma, but this has not been confirmed. It is quite possible that Mark Linkous is responsible for the choice of title, as the artist battled depression for many years. He also risked his life a few years before the album’s release by swallowing large amounts of pills and even had to use a wheelchair for six months.
Danger Mouse’s music helped him overcome his lack of inspiration and motivation to make music. It was not long before Linkous contacted Brian Joseph Burton and asked him to do business together. In one of his interviews, Mark shared that The Grey House inspired him to continue working on Dreams for Light Years. One of Sparklehouse’s main desires was to make music that was a mix of pop, rock, and hip-hop. Considering how successful this album was, we can safely say that his idea was clever.
Into the Depths of the Dark Night of the Soul
As the name of the album suggests, it contains music that is not really joyful. In fact, many music critics have described the song as gloomy, dark, and somehow mysterious. Many believe that Mark Linkous created music inspired by the real-life events he had to go through during his career. Nevertheless, the album also contains some songs that are catchy and uplifting. This part was most likely the work of Danger Mouse.
The artists prioritized both the loud and soft parts of each song. As you will notice when listening to the tracks, there are many parts with ambient sounds that are almost too quiet to be heard. However, they contribute to the essence of each song. In one of his last interviews before his death, Linkous said that David Lynch’s movies made him realize that silence is just as important as volume.
Mark felt that the dark, menacing parts of the songs were complemented by the music he and Danger Mouse created. It seemed that working on this project made Linkous rethink his life choices. He was quite excited about it, and many people believed that Dark Night of the Soul would change his life for the better. Unfortunately, 2010 was the year Linkous put an end to his life.
The Team Standing Behind the Creation of Dark Night of the Soul
We have now explained that Mark Linkous and Danger Mouse are the main stars of Dark Night of the Soul. But the team behind the making of the album is much bigger than that. Filmmaker David Lynch, for example, can be heard singing on two of the tracks. He is also responsible for the publication of a limited edition book of photographs he took himself.
According to his words, all these shots are a kind of visual narrative of Dark Night of the Soul. Lynch felt that these photos were a great addition to the album, as they could make it easier for the listener to understand the meaning of each song. In addition to David Lynch, many other musicians and artists contributed to the creation of the album. Some of them include:
- Gruff Rhys – a Welsh composer, author, musician, and producer who performs alone or with other bands.
- Julian Casablancas – an American musician who is best known as the leading vocalist of The Strokes.
- James Russell Mercer – an American musician and founder of The Shins.
- James Victor Chesnutt – an American singer and songwriter who was most famous for his first album Little.
- Black Francis – a well-known American artist who was the frontman of the rock band named Pixies.
- Iggy Pop – an American singer, radio broadcaster, actor, and songwriter who is known as the Godfather of Punk.
- Suzanne Vega – an American musician who is famous for her music inspired by folk.
The Postpone
According to the information that first appeared in terms of the album’s release date, fans of Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse had to be presented with the chance to buy the album in early 2009. However, due to a legal dispute with EMI, Dark Night of the Soul was not released until 2010. Although it was never made clear why the record company EMI caused the dispute, many believe that the reason for this was a record deal between the Lex Records label and Danger Mouse.
Even though the album was not officially released until 2010, 5,000 copies of the picture book were sold in an incredibly short period of time. It came with a blank CD-R that contained no music. It was explained that this was for legal reasons and each buyer was advised to use it as they saw fit.
Critics’ Opinion on Dark Night of the Soul
All in all, Dark Night of the Soul received mostly positive reviews. Some called it too dark, but the majority of listeners really enjoyed the music. Many even said that this album was almost as good as a masterpiece. The critics at PopMatters wrote that there are very few contemporary pop music albums that have dealt with the theme of the human condition in such an expressive way. The corresponding team at the New York Times, on the other hand, was not so kind with their words. They declared that Danger Mouse was a much better prankster and conceptualist than a musician. Regardless of that, however, the album got the attention it deserved.
A List of Tracks Included in Dark Night of the Soul
Dark Night of the Soul’s track list includes 13 songs, varying in length from 2:32 to 4:52. The longest track in the list is Revenge with The Flaming Lips. Later, a bonus MP3 track was added to the Deluxe Edition. It is named Dark Night of the Soul (Sparklehorse Mix). Fans of the album were also offered two exclusive MP3 download tracks. Below is a complete list of all the songs included in Dark Night of the Soul.
- “Revenge”
- “Just War”
- “Jaykub”
- “Little Girl”
- “Angel’s Harp”
- “Pain”
- “Star Eyes (I Can’t Catch It)”
- “Every time I’m With You”
- “Insane Lullaby”
- “Daddy’s Gone”
- “Man Who Played God”
- “Grim Augury”
- “Dark Night of the Soul”
- “Dark Night of the Soul” (Sparklehorse Mix) (MP3 bonus track)
- “Revenge” (Instrumental) (MP3 Download bonus track)
- “Every time I’m with You” (Instrumental) (MP3 Download bonus track)
Dragon Mouse’s Career After Dark Night of the Soul
A year after the release of Dark Night of the Soul, Dragon Mouse was awarded a Grammy for Best Producer. After that, the artist continued to develop as a musician, collaborating with many other artists and bands, including Electric Guest, POP ETC., and even ASAP Rocky. In 2015, it was announced that Dragon Mouse would be the official producer of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ 11th album, replacing Rick Rubin.
The latter news came as quite a shock to the public, as Rubin had worked with the band for more than 25 years. Of course, this also contributed to the greater popularity of the American artist. The album called The Gateway was released in 2016 and was an absolute success. 2017 was another special year for Dragon Mouse.
Anthony Kiedis, the main singer of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, announced that the band wanted to work with Brian again. Secondly, this was the year Dragon Mouse released the album Resistance Radio: The Man in the High Castle with Sam Cohen. The artist also collaborated with the American rapper and songwriter Big Boi to create Chase Me – a song for the movie Baby Driver.
A year later, in 2018, Dragon Mouse produced the Parquet Courts’ album Wide Awake!, which received critical acclaim. The collaboration between him and Karen O for the creation of the Lux Prima album was one of Dragon House’s last projects. Fans of his music are eagerly awaiting all the upcoming songs he will release in the future.