''Dark Night of the Soul'' is a studio album by Danger Mouse and

Sparklehorse Sparklehorse was an American indie rock band from Richmond, Virginia, led by singer and multi-instrumentalist Mark Linkous. Sparklehorse was active from 1995 until Linkous' 2010 death. Prior to forming Sparklehorse, Linkous fronted local bands ...

, featuring collaborations by numerous notable musicians. Its release was postponed due to a legal dispute with the album's distributor

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

. It was finally released in July 2010, about a year after it had been leaked to the Internet and Danger Mouse had released a blank

CD-R CD-R (Compact disc-recordable) is a digital optical disc storage format. A CD-R disc is a compact disc that can be written once and read arbitrarily many times. CD-R discs (CD-Rs) are readable by most CD readers manufactured prior to the in ...

as a way of working around the dispute. The album was commercially successful in the United Kingdom, and was well-received by music critics.

Content

The title of the album derives from '' La noche oscura del alma'', the title given to a poem by 16th-century Spanish poet Juan de la Cruz

John of the Cross John of the Cross, OCD ( es, link=no, Juan de la Cruz; la, Ioannes a Cruce; born Juan de Yepes y Álvarez; 24 June 1542 – 14 December 1591) was a Spanish Catholic priest, mystic, and a Carmelite friar of converso origin. He is a major fi ...

. ''Dark Night of the Soul'' features a wide range of collaborators, including James Mercer of

The Shins The Shins is an American indie rock band formed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1996. The band is the project of singer-songwriter James Mercer, who has served as the band's sole constant member throughout numerous line-up changes. The band's cu ...

Wayne Coyne Wayne Michael Coyne (born January 13, 1961) is an American musician. He is the lead singer, guitarist, keyboardist, theremin player and songwriter for the band the Flaming Lips. Early life Coyne was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United Stat ...

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Gruff Rhys Gruffudd Maredudd Bowen Rhys (; born 18 July 1970) is a Welsh musician, composer, producer, filmmaker and author. He performs solo and with several bands, including Super Furry Animals, which obtained mainstream success in the 1990s. He formed ...

Super Furry Animals Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band formed in Cardiff in 1993. For the duration of their professional career, the band consisted of Gruff Rhys (lead vocals, guitar), Huw Bunford (lead guitar, vocals), Guto Pryce (bass guitar), Cian Ciaran ...

Jason Lytle Jason Lytle ( ; born March 26, 1969) is an American musician best known for his work in the indie rock group Grandaddy. The group split in 2005, and Lytle continued to release music as a solo artist and in collaboration with other musicians. Gra ...

Grandaddy Grandaddy is an American indie rock band from Modesto, California. The group was formed in 1992, and featured Jason Lytle, Aaron Burtch, Jim Fairchild, Kevin Garcia and Tim Dryden, until Garcia's death in 2017 following a stroke. After several ...

Julian Casablancas Julian Fernando Casablancas (born August 23, 1978) is an American singer, musician and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of Rock music, rock band The Strokes, with whom he has released six studio albums since the ...

The Strokes The Strokes are an American rock band from New York City. Formed in 1998, the band is composed of lead singer and songwriter Julian Casablancas, guitarists Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr., bassist Nikolai Fraiture, and drummer Fabrizio More ...

Black Francis Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV (born April 6, 1965) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known as the frontman of the alternative rock band Pixies, with whom he performs under the stage name Black Francis. Fo ...

of the

Pixies A pixie (also pisky, pixy, pixi, pizkie, and piskie in Cornwall and Devon, and pigsie or puggsy in the New Forest) is a mythical creature of British folklore. Pixies are considered to be particularly concentrated in the high moorland areas aro ...

Iggy Pop James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter and actor. Called the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Godfather of Punk", he was the vocalist and lyricist of ...

Nina Persson Nina Elisabet Persson (; born 6 September 1974) is the lead singer and lyricist for the Swedish rock band The Cardigans. She has also worked as a solo artist, releasing two albums as A Camp and one under her own name, and has also appeared as a ...

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Vic Chesnutt James Victor Chesnutt (November 12, 1964 – December 25, 2009) was an American singer-songwriter from Athens, Georgia. His first album, little (album), ''Little'', was released in 1990. His commercial breakthrough came in 1996 with the rele ...

David Lynch David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker, visual artist and actor. A recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 2019, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, and the César Award for Be ...

, and

Scott Spillane Scott Edward Spillane (born September 26, 1965) is an American musician. He is part of The Gerbils and was one of the original members of the band Neutral Milk Hotel, for which he also served as a composer. He also has appeared on albums and in liv ...

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and

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; these singers also had a hand in composing and producing the work.

Release

Legal dispute with EMI

The album was the subject of a legal dispute with the project's

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

. It was initially reported in early 2009 that there was a possibility that the album might never see release. However, the book was made available for sale on the official website of ''Dark Night of the Soul'', bundled with a blank recordable

. All copies were clearly labeled as follows: The audio portion of the album was widely leaked around the same time. Without going into detail, EMI acknowledged the legal dispute and released the following statement: Both parties of the dispute remained silent about the particulars, but it is believed that the problems with distribution centered on a record deal that Danger Mouse signed with

Lex Records Lex Records is a British independent record label based in Camden, London, England. Style Lex has a varied musical output. Most releases are alternative hip hop, alternative rock or electronic. The label works with a small group of artists. ...

. In early 2010, it was announced that ''Dark Night of the Soul'' was slated for a tentative summer 2010 release, even though the CD-R version had been available since the previous May. A Lex Records logo appears next to the Capitol Records logo on the final version.

Official release

The full album was officially released July 12, 2010, in multiple formats. The album features a hand-numbered 100-plus-page book of photos taken by

, said to be a visual narrative for the music. This book was limited to 5,000 copies. This was the final album that Sparklehorse leader

Mark Linkous Mark Linkous (September 9, 1962 – March 6, 2010) was an American singer, songwriter and musician, best known as leader of Sparklehorse. He was also known for his collaborations with such notable artists as Tom Waits, PJ Harvey, Daniel John ...

completed before his suicide on March 6, 2010, although '' In the Fishtank 15''—recorded in 2007—was released later, and Linkous was working on another LP at the time of his death. It was also one of the final works recorded by Vic Chesnutt before his suicide.

Reception

''Dark Night of the Soul'' reached No. 32 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

. It has been-well received by music critics.

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

wrote: "Few contemporary pop albums have spoken to the human condition so eloquently, and given the listener so much pleasure in the process, than ''Dark Night of the Soul''. It's no exaggeration to say Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse have crafted a near-masterpiece." ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' was less favourable, writing: "especially for a record that required so much effort, too much here feels incidental. ''Dark Night'' may end up being the final document on the ineffectiveness of Danger Mouse, a better conceptualist and prankster than producer."

Track listing

Personnel

Musicians

* Black Francis - Lead Vocals (5), Background Vocals (5) * Julian Casablancas - Lead Vocals (4), Background Vocals (4), Solo Guitar (4) * Vic Chesnutt - Vocals (12) * Wayne Coyne - Lead Vocals (1), Background Vocals (1) * Danger Mouse - Bass (7, 9), Piano (3, 7, 10), Organ (2, 7, 11), Wurlitzer (1, 2, 8, 9, 13), Mellotron (6), Keyboards (7), Synthesizer (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12), Drums (12), Percussion (5), Programming (2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11) * Steven Drozd - Background Vocals (1), Harmony Vocals (1), Guitar (1), Organ (1), Synthesizer (1), Drums (1), Programmed Drums (1), Programmed Strings (1) * Dean Hurley - Electric Guitar (13), Organ (13), Drums (13), Percussion (13) * Nathan Larson - Solo Guitar (6) * Mark Linkous - Lead Vocals (10), Background Vocals (10), Guitar (1), Acoustic Guitar (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11), Electric Guitar (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13), Baritone Guitar (13), Bass (2, 5, 6, 8, 10), Electric Bass (1), Hohner Bass (1), Piano (7), Toy Piano (7), Organ (9), Rhodes (2), Optigan (8, 12, 13), Synthesizer (2, 4), Speak 'n Spell (13), Drums (1, 9), Programming (4, 7, 9, 11) * Daniele Luppi - Clavioline (5), String Arrangement (1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10) * David Lynch - Vocals (7, 13), Guitar (13), Synthesizer (13), Sound Effects (13) * Jason Lytle - Lead Vocals (3, 8), Background Vocals (3, 8), Electric Guitar (8), Solo Guitar (3), Synthesizer (8), Programming (3) * Heather McIntosh - Horn Arrangement (13) * James Mercer - Lead Vocals (9), Background Vocals (2, 9) * Money Mark - Intro Piano (2) * Steve Nistor - Wurlitzer (1, 2), Drums (2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10), Percussion (2, 3) * Nina Persson - Lead Vocals (10), Background Vocals (10) * Iggy Pop - Vocals (6) * Gruff Rhys - Lead Vocals (2) * Sonus Quartet - Strings (1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10) * Scott Spillane - Horns (13), Horn Arrangement (13) * Suzanne Vega - Lead Vocals (11), Background Vocals (11)

Technical

* Production - Danger Mouse, Mark Linkous * Engineering - Mark Linkous, Kennie Takahashi, Todd Monfalcone * Additional Engineering - Steven Drozd (1), Sir Doufous Styles (2), Jason Lytle (3, 8), Tom Gardner (4), Jason Carter (5), Hart Gunther (6), Dean Hurley (7, 13), Britt Myers (11), Vic Chesnutt (12), Bill Doss (13) * Mixing - Danger Mouse, Mark Linkous, Kennie Takahashi * Mix Assistants - Todd Monfalcone, Mike Laza, Alyssa Pittaluga * Score Preparation - Anton Riehl (1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10) * Mastering - Stephen Marcussen at Marcussen Mastering * Visuals - David Lynch * Artwork - Jacob Escobedo * Layout - Jacob Escobedo * Management - Ian Montone at Monotone, Inc. (Dark Night Of The Soul and Danger Mouse), Shelby Meade/Fresh and Clean (Mark Linkous) * A&R - Jeff Antebi * Artist Development - Jeff Antebi * Legal - William Berrol, Esq., Craig Averill, Esq.

Charts

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Albums produced by Danger Mouse (musician) Danger Mouse (musician) albums Sparklehorse albums 2010 albums Collaborative albums Capitol Records albums Albums published posthumously Books by David Lynch