Release Date: November 8, 2010
“Strange and unproductive thinking,” film director David Lynch repeats like a mantra on one of the “songs” on his recording debut, and that sums up his charm and the ultimate downfall of Crazy Clown Time. It’s strange, but it’s ultimately unproductive, and it’s telling that the track is a highlight on this otherwise desultory and generally uncompelling collection. One of 14 forays into various levels of strangeness, it’s a a seven-minute-plus diatribe that takes the style that Neil Young employed on Trans (a la Peter Frampton) and the spoken-word approach of Laurie Anderson, beginning as a meditation on bliss and somehow turning into a dissertation on the value of dental hygiene. And that’s not even the strangest track here.
Although “Pinky’s Dream,” the entertaining and propulsive kick-off cut, features prominent vocals from The Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O., there’s no doubt that Lynch is the brains behind this operation, for better or for worse, and regrettably it’s usually for the worse. The album vacillates wildly in the narrow range between electronic treadmill running (“Good Day Today” and “So Glad”) and ambient, ethereal excursions (“Noah’s Ark” and “I Know”), but it’s dominated by his skewed world view. He crafts an atmospheric and disturbing vibe, hardly a surprise for fans of his films. But it’s telling that where his music succeeds best is when he collaborates with those who have musical gifts like Karen O. (as with Angelo Badalamenti and Julee Cruise in the past).
Of course, to those familiar with Lynch’s directorial work, or who have ever seen him interviewed, it most likely comes as no surprise that his strength is not his singing voice. Indeed, his high-pitched tenor is his biggest liability, and he doesn’t so much sing as speak on- and off-key throughout. For example, “Football Game” brings the vocals of Butthole Surfers’ Gibby Haynes into the era of “Friday Night Lights” and could be their white-boy blues on downers. “Good Day Today” steals a page from 1980s obscurities Real Life’s “Send Me An Angel” and merges Brazilian Girls’ “Don’t Stop” with the machine gun etiquette espoused on the most recent Portishead release. “These Are My Friends” sounds like an anthem to Lynch’s real “Freaks and Greeks” homies.
The whole record is sort of a mish-mash of conceptual experiments, and while it’s an intriguing first listen, it’s hard to imagine the average listener sitting through Crazy Clown Time more than once, unless it’s for a particularly freaky Halloween or while taking a late-night drive down a lost highway.
As any director should know, some ideas are best left on the cutting room floor, and despite a few highlights, Crazy Clown Time overall is a prime example of just such an idea.
David Lynch – Crazy Clown Time tracklist:
- “Pinky’s Dream”
- “Good Day Today”
- “So Glad”
- “Noah’s Ark”
- “Football Game”
- “I Know”
- “Strange and Unproductive Thinking”
- “The Night Bell with Lightning”
- “Stone’s Gone Up”
- “Crazy Clown Time”
- “These Are My Friends”
- “Speed Roadster”
- “Movin’ On”
- “She Rise Up”
