Sparklehorse - Dreamt For Light Years In the Belly of a Mountain

Mark Linkous should be dead. In 1996, the Sparklehorse creator nearly died when he mixed Valium with anti-depressants. He didn’t die, but he was depressed when he woke up from his unconscious state because his legs were pinned under the rest of his body and he lost blood circulation that left him nearly crippled. Even more depressing, the surgeries to correct his near crippledness. So, it’s amazing that Linkous isn't dead and we’re happy to still have him around because he’s created an otherworldly, thoughtful and mellow album that has a very long title and has some very long list of good people associated with it (The Flaming Lips’ Steven Drozd, Danger Mouse, Tom Waits, etc.). “Shade and Honey” is U2 ballad-ish. “Return to Me” is Iron and Wine-y. “Dreamt For Light Years In,” is a 10-plus minute quiet piece that’d work for a long thoughtful scene on Six Feet Under. Did I mention that we’re lucky Linkous isn’t six feet under himself? If he was, he couldn’t have created such a quiet and assured album. [www.sparklehorse.com]