Blue Velvet & Twin Peaks for the Ears
Visionary artists may become known for using a singular expressionistic medium like fabric (McQueen), canvas (Dali) or cement (Gaudi) but often their insatiable thirst to create compels them to experiment with others. Witness seminal filmmaker, David Lynch, who once presented a furniture collection at the Milan Furniture Fair, remarking, “Design and music, art and architecture – they all belong together.” So when we heard he had released a solo debut album, Crazy Clown Time, it should have come as no surprise. Lynch has composed music for his own films but his solo album, described as ‘deliciously off-kilter’, is his surrealist vision with, um, bells on.
His low and drunken voice is a revelation. It hypnotizes you into a soporific state while delivering bible-black, twisted messages of doomed romance, revenge and loss. Lyrics are simple but resonating (‘I’m so glad you’re gone’, ‘maybe you’re happy/but I hope you’re sad.’), and are entwined in trance, dance and even punk. This is a pulsating, surrealist soundscape that manages to embody musically what this artist has successfully and repeatedly done visually. It’s “Blue Velvet” and “Twin Peaks” for the ears.
Be warned – and then astounded.
By Shiv Paul
Categories:
Look & Listen
