The collaborative project between David Lynch, Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse will not see the light of the day due to pending legal issues, NME reports.
“Dark Night Of The Soul” apparently features appearances by, among others, Julian Casablancas (The Strokes), Black Francis (The Pixies), Vic Chesnutt, The Flaming Lips, James Mercer (The Shins), Iggy Pop, Gruff Rhys (Super Furry Animals), Jason Lytle (Grandaddy) and Nina Person (The Cardigans) but will now have its release withdrawn due to an “ongoing dispute” between Danger Mouse (whose real name is Brian Burton) and his record label, EMI.
The album was set to be released next month with a book featuring photographs by Lynch. The book will still be released but will now come with a blank CD attached with a sticker that reads: “For Legal Reasons, enclosed CD-R contains no music. Use it as you will.” Burton revealed in a statement that he hoped “people lucky enough to hear the music, by whatever means, are as excited by it as he is.”
Such legalities are not new to Burton who previously faced legal issues regarding his album “The Grey Album.” The album was a mash-up of The Beatles “The White Album” and Jay Z’s “The Black Album” and led EMI to block the album’s release on the grounds of unlicensed music use. This led to the infamous Grey Tuesday where Burton’s album become the face of an organized day of electronic civil disobedience.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen,” Burton noted at the time. “I just sent out a few tracks, now online stores are selling it and people are downloading it all over the place. [It] was not my intent to break copyright laws. It was my intent to make an art project.” It is not known whether the reoccurance of legal issues between Burton and EMI will lead to similar online rebellions. However, with his cult-like status, Burton’s work with Lynch and Sparklehorse is sure to set the internet alight one way or another.
[ed. Wow, way to fight the power. As pointed out by a Playlist commentor, “Dark Night Of The Soul” is now being streamed in its entirety at NPR. Not only that but the album’s official site is also cleverly linking to the stream via a little NPR logo in the bottom left hand corner.]
