Dangermouse new project...

[Elano]

In a 2006 Pitchfork interview, Mark Linkous, the frontman for North Carolina indie institutions Sparklehorse, talked a bit about an album he was making with a somewhat unlikely collaborator: Danger Mouse. The Georgia producer had done some work with Sparklehorse on their 2006 album Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain, and the two kept writing songs together: "We'll probably get a girl to sing them-- I think Nina [Persson] from the Cardigans will probably sing some of those songs"

Last year, Linkous checked back in. He said that he and Danger Mouse were indeed recording an album together, that they'd argued about whether to call the project Dangerhorse or Sparklemouse. ("I hope to God it's going to be Dangerhorse. Sparklemouse just reminds me of a British children's show.") Linkous said that he'd sing on a couple of songs from the album but that most of it would be him and Danger Mouse making backing tracks for a succession of guest singers. As of then, the list of guests included Persson, Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys, former Grandaddy frontman Jason Lytle, and Vic Chesnutt. Linkous mentioned that he hoped to record with Stephen Malkmus and Chan Marshall. Also, "The Flaming Lips track just came in and it's fucking awesome."

Judging by a mysterious promotional poster that has been popping up in mailboxes and on walls at SXSW, the album will finally see release this summer. And it won't be called Dangerhorse or Sparklemouse. Instead, it's Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse Present Dark Night of the Soul. Linkous might not have managed to recruit Malkmus or Marshall, but the record does have a completely insane list of contributors: Persson, Rhys, Lytle, Chesnutt, and the Lips are all indeed on board. So are Black Francis, the Strokes' Julian Casablancas, Iggy Pop, Suzanne Vega, and the Shins' James Mercer. And David Lynch? It says David Lynch.

At the moment, the respective PR reps for Danger Mouse and Linkous are keeping mum on this, so any further details on are forthcoming. But just based on that list of contributors, this album should be nuts.