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 vant
même d’écouter It’s a wonderful life, troisième
album de Sparklehorse, on a vu les photos récentes de Mark
Linkous, maître à bord, l’air ailleurs. Il a failli mourir
avant de commencer à enregistrer (trop de médicaments
pour supporter le stress imposé par la maison de disque. Vilaine
engeance).
 C’est
un chercheur de son, un bricoleur qui enregistre avec du matériel
récupéré dans d’improbables recoins d’Amérique,
des micros des années 40, des amplis à lampes. On trafique,
on essaie. On passe aussi du temps avec des compagnons musiciens,
on change de ville (New York, Barcelone et chez lui en Virginie dans
son studio plein d’araignées) pour changer de son, aller voir
ailleurs dans l’espoir d’y trouver… rien de précis, de beaux
moments. (Tom Waits chante rocailleux sur Dog Door, PJ Harvey
sur Piano Fire).
Le
disque ressemble à un patchwork, cette couverture typique faite
de différentes pièces de tissu-souvenirs (regarder les
morceaux, rugueux, piquants ou feutrés, inventer les souvenirs
qui vont avec, heureux comme Ulysse ou insondablement mélancolique.
‘I wish I had a horse’s head, a tiger’s heart and an apple bed’,
des fulgurances). Les titres les plus sages ressemblent aux chansons
d’Eliott Smith, et se partagent la place avec d’autres, pleines de
mystères, rafistolées, et si belles ainsi (sur Babies
on the sun, les cordes d’un enregistrement pirate d’une autre
dimension, celle où la mélancolie se promène
en altitude).
On
réclame l’adoption du cheval-étincelle comme nouvelle
unité pour mesurer la capacité à désordonner
les paysages de l’âme.
Pour
les couleurs, les images et un peu d’écriture manuscrite, le
site www.sparklehorse.com
donne à voir une photo pour chaque chanson, un guitariste à
masque de chat, un jeune cerf, un ciel d‘orage, un marécage
aux couleurs embrouillées, un contre jour dans une chambre
d’hôtel…
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It's
a Wonderful Life
Gold Days
Piano Fire
Sea Of Teeth
Apple Bed
King Of Nails
Eyepennies
Dog Door
More Yellow Birds
Little Fat Baby
Comfort Me
Babies On The Sun
Morning Hollow
Devil's New version US seulement)
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All
tracks written by Mark Linkous; except 'Dog Door' by
Linkous/Waits.
It's a Wonderful Life
Produced and recorded by Mark Linkous at Static King,
VA. Mark sings and plays opitgan, mellotron, casio,
and sampler.
Gold Day
Recorded at Tarbox Studios NY. Mark sings and plays
mellotron, optigan, guitar, whurlitzer organ, and percussion.
Adrian Utley uses microcassette. Scott Minor plays drums,
electronics, and percussion. Nina Persson sings. Dave
Fridmann plays bass.
Piano Fire
Recorded in Barcelona and NY. Mark sings and plays nylon
stringed guitar and casio. Scott plays drums and electronics.
Polly Jean Harvey sings and plays a black electric guitar
and piano. John Parish plays bass and casio.
Sea of Teeth
Produced and recorded at Tarbox Studios NY. Mark sings
and plays nylon stringed guitar, mellotron, and sampler.
Scott plays drums and electronics. Dave plays the piano
and bass.
Apple Bed
Produced and recorded at Static King VA, and Missionsound
Studios NY. Mark sings and plays guitar, drum machine,
and sampler. Bob Rupe plays bass. Nina sings. Joan Wasser
plays violin. jane Scarpantoni plays cello. Scott plays
drums.
King of Nails
Produced and recorded at Tarbox Studios NY. Mark sings
and plays guitar and prophet 5. Scott plays drums and
percussion. Dave plays mixing board. Sofie Mitchalitsianos
sings (and looks kick-ass playing bass).
Eyepennies
Recorded in Barcelona and NY. Mark sings and plays whurlitzer
organ. Polly Jean sings and plays John's guitar. Scott
plays drums. John plays piano. Adrian Utley plays bass.
Dog Door
Recorded at Static King VA, and Valley Forge CA. Mark
sings and plays guitar, drums, sampler, and optigan.
Adrian plays kitty cat and furry bass.
More Yellow Birds
Recorded and produced by mark and Alan Weatherhead at
Sound of Music, VA. Mark sings and plays mellotron and
magic genie organ. Margret White plays bass and violin.
Miguel Rodriguez plays drums. Alan plays lap steel and
orchestron.
Little Fat Baby
Recorded at Static King, VA, and Missionsound, NY. Mark
sings and plays nylon stringed guitar. Jane plays cello.
Bob plays bass. Scott plays drums. Sofie sings.
Comfort Me
Recorded at ?. Mark sings and plays guitar, optigan,
mellotron, orchestron, moog, and prophet 5. Scott plays
drums, electronics, korg, and percussion. Sofie sings.
Dave plays bass and mellotron. Rex White plays pedal
steel (and got stung by a bee).
Babies in the Sun
produced and recorded at Tarbox Studios, NY. Mark sings
and plays optigan, wire recorder, and mellotron. Dave
plays vibraphone and mellotron. Scott made electronic
animal sounds. Sofie sings through a walkie-talkie.
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