The Artist: Sparklehorse
Sparklehorse was the musical project of Mark Linkous - a soft-voiced, Southern gothic poet. A Virginia native, Linkous perfected the art of turning trauma into texture, grief into melody. His music lives in the margins: broken radios, dusty tape hiss and lullabies sung through teeth.
Despite collaborating with Tom Waits, PJ Harvey and Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse never felt like a band. It was more like a dream state - aching, surreal and often solitary. Linkous recorded much of his early work alone, in a shed, with broken gear and a bruised heart.
It’s a Wonderful Life arrived after two albums of distortion and distortion of self. But this one stepped into the light. Produced with help from Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips) and featuring guests like Nina Persson and Tom Waits, it’s Linkous at his most vivid, most complete.
It’s beautiful. It’s brutal.
Almost too fragile to touch.
The Record: It's a Wonderful Life (2001)
The album opens with a whisper: the title track, delicate and cracked. There’s sadness in the bones, but also a flicker of warmth - like a single paper lantern floating over a dark field.
From there, it drifts between lullabies and hallucinations.
Gold Day is almost hymnal. Piano Fire burns hot with PJ Harvey’s vocals snarling through the mix. Eyepennies is unspeakably tender - Nina Persson’s voice melting into his, like two ghosts slowly dancing.
Apple Bed and Comfort Me carry the same strange optimism - a kind of joyful melancholy. And King of Nails stumbles along, distorted, like a wounded machine.
Then there’s Morning Hollow, the final track. A long, slow goodbye. Soft organs. Disintegrating hope. The sense that he’s fading as he sings.
There’s no grand performance here.
Just little miracles.
Play Now:
🔊 Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube
Start With:
- Eyepennies - Fragile, hushed and heartbroken
- Piano Fire - Feral and flaming
- Morning Hollow - A long goodbye
