Chrystabell & David Lynch – Cellophane Memories
Legendary filmmaker David Lynch finds a musical anchor in long-time collaborator Chrystabell on new album Cellophane Memories
This first collaborative full-length between Chrystabell and David Lynch was, according to its accompanying press release, born out of a nighttime walk that the latter took "through a forest of tall trees, over the tops of which he saw a bright light.” So far, so Lynch. Music has always been at the beating heart of all his best-known work as a filmmaker and Cellophane Memories might be his finest work as a musician in his own right.
It's certainly the most outright Lynchian, imbued with a ghostly, uneasy atmosphere. He has worked with Chrystabell since 1998 and in her he's found a valuable creative foil; the manner in which they make bold and unpredictable choices throughout Cellophane Memories suggests a deep artistic synergy.
Even on songs like Reflections in a Blade, where Chrystabell's vocals have a choppy, backmasked opacity to them, she conveys a brooding mood beautifully. On the more conventional likes of You Know the Rest, there's a smoky bluesiness to her voice that would have made her a shoe-in at the Roadhouse in Twin Peaks, if she hadn’t already been on the trail of Dale Cooper’s doppelgänger as Special Agent Tammy Preston. As ever, Lynch has crafted a strange world thick with foreboding, one that some will find inaccessible. For those willing to stay a while within it, though, there is much wonder here.
Listen to: You Know the Rest, Reflections in a Blade, Sublime Eternal Love