Acclaimed surrealist director, musician and artist David Lynch has been working with Italian composer Angelo Badalamenti since the 1986 film Blue Velvet was released, but potentially their most well-known collaboration was on the soundtrack for Lynch's early-Nineties television show Twin Peaks. Creating iconic and haunting refrains like "Laura's Theme" and "Audrey's Dance," Badalamenti wove an aural tapestry rich enough to secure himself a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Performance in 1990, then a Saturn Award in 1993 for his work on the Twin Peaks prequel film Fire Walk With Me. Around this time, Lynch and Badalamenti formed a side project called Thought Gang and recorded an album that would remain unreleased for more than 25 years — until now. Sacred Bones will finally give the self-titled avant-jazz album a proper unveiling on November 2nd (you can pre-order it here) and have released preview track "Woodcutters From Fiery Ships" today.
The track is a meandering dark soundscape with spoken-word surrealist poetry lain over, foreboding strings and percussion lightly building tension in the background. It stands as a time capsule capturing the aesthetic of Lynch and Badalamenti's work of that era, bringing to mind the modern noir atmosphere of the Twin Peaks universe. Badalamenti's vocal performance is frenzied and ominous, perfect for the bizarre dialogue of the song. Apparently, Lynch had hesitations going into recording, stating, "I'd heard Angelo sing before ... he used to sing on demos and things ... I knew what Angelo sounded like and I thought he was going to embarrass himself ... I thought there's no way this was gonna work." The director admits he was mistaken though, continuing, "It was like a light bulb exploded in my stomach. Angelo was feeling it. He was feeling it ... we hit the button and he just took off!"
To accompany the record, Lynch has also created a film short that will premiere at his upcoming Festival of Disruption taking place October 13-14th in Los Angeles. "It is a short video featuring my friends the ants, along with cheese, etc. and one and a half tracks from the upcoming Thought Gang album," he described the piece. The festival will also feature Q&As with Lynch himself, talks with artists such as Grace Jones and Carrie Brownstein, and musical performances by Dylan Carlson, Mike Patton and more.
Thought Gang track listing:
1. Stalin Revisited
2. Logic and Common Sense
3. One Dog Bark
4. Woodcutters From Fiery Ships
5. A Real Indication
6. Jack Paints It Red
7. A Meaningless Conversation
8. Frank 2000 Prelude
9. Multi-Tempo Wind Boogie
10. The Black Dog Runs at Night
11. Frank 2000
12. Summer Night Noise
