Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan Sunday at Devil Dirt Music Review

Posted on 21. Dec, 2008 by Administrator in Music

Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan Sunday at Devil Dirt

Isobel Campbell, formerly of Belle and Sebastian, has here penned and produced an epic collection of haunting and dusty tales of love, yearning, salvation, and tales long thought forgotten. Again, she has chosen the 6’4” Goliath of sound that is Mark Lanegan, formerly of The Screaming Trees, to play the Lee Hazlewood to her Nancy Sinatra. But this time around his rusty iron voice – which at times also brings to mind the haunting baritone of later Leonard Cohen – is the focus of the majority of the songs while Isobel’s whispery nymphal voice travels along for the journey, often times simply offering the comforting or saddened choir in the background. The songs stop short of telling the winding tales of Nick Cave or weaving the spellbinding poetry of Cohen, but in doing so, they are able to become more personal to the listener, who can apply the songs more to their own lives rather than listen to them removed as if they were studying a work of art. Here’s a sample of the lyrical jaunts found in this album’s grooves, the first few lines from “Who Built the Road”

Who built the road that led to my self esteem; Twisted and crushed black metal and bones;Who passed the buck who pressed my flesh to yours; Spilling like wine and sweeter than tears

While at times lone guitars ride through the black forest and are joined by a tiny orchestra of strings, there are other occasions when the music descends into smoky, sweaty jazzy club meanderings. Here, Heaven and Hell have offered up their favorite voices, a pair of lovers only allowed to sing with one another once an eon, and it is a time that shall be remembered for ages, or at least a few months if you will. Lanegan has confided that Campbell’s songs leave his voice naked and unable to hide behind a wall of sound, which can be a scary thing for a man, left buck naked for all to see, but for once, I don’t mind seeing a grown man naked.

Good For: Cuddling on a cold snowy day, old home movies on a projector, long train rides, candles. Bad For: Karaoke, bondage.

by Devoe Yates

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