David Lynch
Album: The Big Dream
Label: Sunday Best
Tracks: 12
Website: http://www.davidlynch.com

Having seemingly put his film work on the back burner (his most recent is Inland Empire from 2006), David Lynch follows his 2010 debut album Crazy Clown Time with this flinty set of 21st century blues. Its 11 originals and a cover of Dylan's The Ballad of Hollis Brown (that owes much to Nina Simone's arrangement) add up to a compelling listen. He's found a way past most of the wonky pop and deliberately obtuse delivery of Crazy Clown Time, instead opting for a blend of hard-handed percussion and dusty guitar - Nine Inch Nails messing around with Johnny Cash.

Lykke Li provides the muse and the vocal co-pilot on I'm Waiting Here (a single that only comes from download versions of the album) and spreads a welcome splash of kookiness with every syllable. It's odd that such strangeness should stand out on a David Lynch record, but there you are - sometimes the most peculiar thing is also the most familiar.

Elsewhere, Wishin' Well invokes the spirit of Portishead at their most filmic, Sun Can't Be Seen No More shifts up a gear, Star Dream Girl paints a picture of one that got away, as We Rolled Together remembers one that didn't.

This record is not going to turn your life on its head, but who's looking for that? The Big Dream is the sound of one man's experience being poured into music cares about and fervently hopes you might as well.

Nick Churchill
www.thegranvillechambers.co.uk