Here’s what you already know by way of background information: Danger Mouse is an ambitious and demanding man, previously known for his Grey Album (a combination of Jay-Z’s a cappellas from his Black Album and instrumentals from the Beatles’ White Album), his association with the rapper MF DOOM as DANGERDOOM, and his productions for artists like The Gorillaz and Beck. 

Sparklehorse is a talented group with a penchant for electronic rock music, led by North Carolina songwriter Mark Linkous. They have toured with Radiohead and collaborated with PJ Harvey and Tom Waits, among others.

That’s their individual bios. But now, Danger and Sparklehorse are teaming up to write an album, a project that’s immediately become one of the most stirring and anticipated discs of the year. The icing on the cake: David Lynch -no less- is in charge of the visual identity of the album, using the disc to spawn a sort of musical narrative for a book of photographs taken by Lynch himself.

As for the music? For starters, the album is titled “Dark Night of the Soul.” And the guest list of artists includes Iggy Pop, Julian Casablancas of The Strokes, Suzanne Vega, The Flaming Lips, Nina Persson of The Cardigans, James Mercer of The Shins, Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals, Franck Black of The Pixies, Vic Chesnutt, Scott Spillane of Neutral Milk Hotel and The Gebils and Jason Lytle of Grandaddy.

Sadly, you’ll be hard pressed to find an actual copy of the album, due to a legal dispute with record label EMI (Danger Mouse has been told that he’s not authorized to play his tunes). However, 5000 hand-numbered copies of Lynch’s accompanying book are now for sale on the Internet, complete with a blank CD-R and this “invitation” to download the album: “For Legal Reasons, enclosed CD-R no music. Use it as you will.”

- Clement