David Lynch

The languid drum machine and twanging guitars which open David Lynch’s second album sound inevitably otherworldly, but there is also a nagging sense of nostalgia at play. Lynch’s vocals fit like a glove: tonally off-kilter, but sitting tight in the mix. Cold Wind Blowing has the qualities of a soundtrack, not far removed from Lynch’s exceptional work on Twin Peaks with composer Angelo Badalamenti and vocalist Julee Cruise, while The Ballad Of Hollis Brown is the most lyrically linear track here, telling a sorry tale through the eyes of the titular protagonist, deep in the plains of South Dakota where the cycle of life and death plays out its fateful conclusions. But the best track is saved for last. Are You Sure? feels like a transcendental meditation on the natural world and man’s relationship with it. Overall, this album is another Lynchian success, a journey of self-discovery that is ultimately as confusing as it is revelatory. While music may never be Lynch’s most accomplished medium, there’s no escaping The Big Dream’s dark landscape, where light can be found by taking a journey inside the mind. Dreams can often be the interpreter of our experiences, and no one summons this innately surreal realm quite like him.