Word: linkous
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Although Mark Linkous, lead singer of Sparklehorse, lives in a secluded farmhouse in Virginia and has a penchant for wearing white Stetsons onstage, the group is considerably better known in Europe than in the U.S. Portuguese, French, German and British web sites lauding the band's first album Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot and its latest effort, Good Morning Spider, attest to this. They have toured Europe successfully, and Spider has been rated album of the year for 1998 by The London Sunday Times, also muscling its way into Top Ten lists of various magazines. The show last weekend was part of the band...
Sparklehorse is often compared to past tour-mate Radiohead, and indeed their music shares with that of the British band a pervasive mood of alienation and apathy as well as layers of sheer melodic beauty. Moreover, Linkous fiddles with synthesizers onstage almost as much as Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead does. However, the group acknowledges significant folk and country elements. This blending of styles makes for a crop of inventive songs wrapped around haunted, absorbing melodies which set Sparklehorse aside...
...center of it all was Linkous' commanding presence. Tall and dark, vaguely menacing, he has a voice that sounds incongruosly sweet and vulnerable as he whispers childlike rhymes, and becomes outwardly chilling and disquieting when he shouts them into the microphone. As he warmed to the crowd, Linkous occasionally cracked a smile--or did until the talking became disruptive during the quieter songs. The buzz continued unabated as he stood, eyes closed, crooning the poignant lyrics. After that, he growled without looking up: "You can talk as much as you want during this one--it doesn't even fucking matter...
...Linkous has a history of depression which severe medical problems have exacerbated. In 1996, the singer overdosed on Valium and antidepressants, and collapsed on a bathroom floor in London. When he was found, his legs had been pinned under him for 14 hours, cutting off circulation completely. An initial attempt to straighten them triggered a cardiac arrest, and Linkous was declared clinically dead for two minutes. Although he was revived and numerous operations to save his legs were ultimately successful, recovery has been slow and painful. He was confined to a wheelchair for six months and still wears leg braces...
...People should have listened on Friday not out of pity for Linkous's painful past however, but because of the talent they were fortunate to hear. His harsh personal experiences come across in the quiet desperation in his songs, but he does not whine. Instead, he crafts silvery plaintive ballads and shouts distortedly through loud, always oddly melodious numbers. Linkous does not aim to please. Like most uncompromising music, his is not instantly accesible, and Sparklehorse songs gain much from the attentive listening that many at the Middle East did not attempt. During "Junebug," a hushed, plaintive encore...