REVIEW: Sparklehorse, Good Morning Spider (Capitol)
- Chris Hill
Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot, the first album by Sparklehorse, is a bluebook exam in musical guise, years of study consolidated in a brief space. An accumulation of moods and tempos, the 16 songs reintroduce themselves over time: one day, it's the plodding guitar of "Cow" that appeals, the next day, the footstomping "Rainmaker" strikes your fancy, and the day after that, the in-your-face "Someday I Will Treat You Good" is the song du jour.
Viva... enjoyed success overseas while Sparklehorse's native America remained indifferent, perhaps offput by the dream-inspired title and a sound that evaded categorization.
While on a U.K. tour for the album, Mark Linkous (who essentially *is* Sparklehorse, while in the studio) accidentally overdosed on prescription medication, and awkwardly collapsed in his hotel room in such a way that prevented circulation to his legs. Discovered hours later, Linkous was rushed to a hospital, where doctors worked to save his legs. His heart stopped during the operation. Revived on the table, he spent three months in the hospital, and endured numerous operations to save his legs. After a long rehab and a year in a wheelchair, he's now back on his feet and out on tour.
A blackly humorous NME review of Viva..., lauding Mark's bleak-yet-beautiful songwriting, ended with "Mark Linkous is now in a wheelchair. Bad karma or what? The next Sparklehorse record's gonna be so great!" Very precognitive. Mark's misfortune set the stage for Good Morning Spider. On his second full-length, the glimpses into his experience and new outlook make for a frankly confessional album of bared nerves and pain, couched in a musical balm, aided by a cast of musical friends, that included members of Cracker. (Sadly, good friend Vic Chesnutt doesn't play on the record, but his voice appears, explaining his absence to Mark's phone on "Sunshine".)
References to his injuries abound: "I want a new body that's strong/I'm a butchered cow" ("Pig"), "My bones wish to escape/...to sleep, oh to sleep" ("Box of Stars (Part One)"), or "blanket me, sweet nurse/...In the bloody elevator/Going to the bright theater now" (the heartbreaking "Saint Mary"). At times, the feeling is claustrophobic.
Balancing the weight of the words is a musical jigsaw puzzle, ranging from distorted glam to country lullaby to sugar pop to instrumental, all connected by their disconnection. "Maria's Little Elbows" is a beautiful country ballad, straight and true with acoustic guitar, cello, and drums. "Cruel Sun", against a squalling vocal and driving electric guitar, spits words dart-like, terse and short. "Come On In" uses vibraphone, cello, organ, and piano to provide a gentle, comforting musical pillow to an "if I die before I wake" entreaty. And the gentle lilt of "Painbirds" counters the despair of its lyrics, which evoke a Van Gogh sky of crows, black wings bringing their burden of hurt closer, beat by beat.
Linkous' worldview CAN be grim. Note the cover graphic of a sparrow in flight and consider the wry food chain titular humor. "It's a hard world for little things", he sings. Or a second interpretation - the attraction of the sparrow in flight to a wheelchair-bound man. Much like the album, there's no easy answer.
Linkous is easily pictured in bed, enduring and stewing, fermenting the album while recovering. In Good Morning Spider, he's pieced bits of experience and environment together into a diary of a trip to the other side of the mountain and back. For more of the guidebook - http://www.parlophone.co.uk/sparklehorse/
