Sparklehorse are a band that have only ever been on the periphery of my musical awareness, a familiar name but nothing more than that, so I don't have the same baggage when it comes to listening to this album as another reviewer might. For others as ignorant me, I should fill in the back story, so allow me. Sparklehorse was formed in the early 1990s by Mark Linkous; employing a rotating door policy on other members, Linkous was always the creative force, and main focal point of the band. A destructive relationship with drugs and alcohol, and a history of depression made for a volatile and unpredictable musical career, which ended prematurely in March 2010 when Linkous committed suicide in Knoxville, Tennessee during a bout of depression.As well as his work with Sparklehorse, Linkous had a record of collaborating with a variety of artists, from Tom Waits, and PJ Harvey to Fennesz and, on Dark Night Of The Soul, the hip-hop impresario Danger Mouse. Danger Mouse is someone I know (slightly) more about, through his work with Gnarls Barkley and Dangerdoom. But Danger Mouse's hip-hop and electronic leanings on those projects are not so much in evidence here. This is a moody, atmospheric album, eerily portentous at times of Linkous' later suicide.
