Even posthumously, the legendary indie rock institution still sounds completely true to itself.
The music that Mark Linkous recorded with Sparklehorse has always been timeless. Four albums were released between 1995 and 2006. If you don’t know them, you’ll only be lucky to put them in the right order. The soundscape of Sparklehorse was already in place when Linkous began. It’s a sound somewhere between noise and ballad, recorded with an idiosyncratic treble, sung with a voice that was never clean, always slightly distorted or manipulated.
Which, for God’s sake, doesn’t mean Linkous was hiding behind effects: Hardly anyone texted so directly, Vic Chesnutt comes to mind. 2010, Linkous was working with Steve Albini on the fifth album, he took his own life, Linkous had been suffering from depression for years. His brother Matt found out a few months later that the recordings for the record had progressed so far that a posthumous release was to be considered. Matt heard, argued, doubted: Is it allowed to control someone else’s art?
A pro argument: There was a tracklist and the LP title BIRD MACHINE. A lot of time has passed, now the album is released – and docks seamlessly into the Sparklehorse cosmos. Noise and defiance, songs for the night, miniatures across the blue and the request: “Stay”. With this piece, soaked in the saddest minor chords in the world, BIRD MACHINE disappears into the darkness.