Sparklehorse

As Sparklehorse, singer-songwriter Mark Linkous made the compelling case that beauty can only be born out of darkness. The enigmatic frontman, born in Virginia in 1962, was a musician’s musician, an artist who followed his whims—through eerie lo-fi recordings, hushed folk experiments and grand melancholic anthems—but always with a perfectionist’s eye for detail. Between the founding of Sparklehorse in 1995 and Linkous’ tragic death in 2010, he created some of indie rock’s most poignant melodies. The scrappy sketches of his 1995 debut, Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot, sound just as haunting as the ethereal ballads of 2001’s It’s a Wonderful Life or the blissful pop moments percolating throughout 2006’s Dreamt for Light Years In the Belly of a Mountain. While Sparklehorse was mostly Linkous’ project, he often opened his doors to artists including PJ Harvey, Vic Chesnutt, Tom Waits and Fennesz. His last album, a 2010 collaborative collection with Danger Mouse titled Dark Night of the Soul, was released just months after Linkous died by suicide, leaving behind a catalogue that beautifully captures the fragility of the human spirit.