My Mom always said to me that I should ‘play nicely’ but such advice would, I suspect, be anathema to David Lynch.

Pouring beer over a woman and ripping her shirt off, screaming so loud you spit and running around crazily in the backyard are some of the antics described in title track of his forthcoming debut album Crazy Clown Time (released the first week of November on  Sunday Best recordings).

If you are prepared to entrust Lynch with your e-mail address you can download this track for free (for a limited period) from his website.

Lynch recorded  the 14 track album at his own Asymmetrical Studio with engineer Dean Hurley, who contributes guitar and drums to several songs.

If this track is anything to go by, the album as a whole promises to explore the same surreal, backwoods territory of his movies.

There can be no doubt that Lynch has an intuitive appreciation of sound which has been a staple of his remarkable filmmaking career. To give just a few examples:  in Eraserhead, a heavy industrial hum dominates the weird atmosphere while his use of Roy Orbison sings on Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive means that you never hear those tracks in the same way again. Similarly the dream pop of Julie Cruise may seem cute and naive on record but sounds truly nightmarish when combined with the surreal imagery of Twin Peaks.

In an interview with this month’s Wire magazine, Lynch admits he is a non-musician because “I can play it one time but I can’t play it again”.  (You can stream this interview  at the Wire’s website).

Given that the strong likelihood is that Inland Empire will be Lynch’s final full length movie, the words and music on this record offer the only current insight into the man’s beautifully warped brain. If these are his thoughts when he’s having  fun heaven only know what goes through his head on a bad day.

Related articles