When Mark Linkous took his own life in 2010, he was in the midst of recording a fifth Sparklehorse album. Now, with the painstaking work of Linkous’s brother and sister-in-law, that album has been completed.
Linkous had already provided Bird Machine with a title and tracklisting; a number of the songs were close to completion, while others required the addition of “subtle instrumentation and accompanying vocals”.
“It’s the hardest decision I’ve ever made,” says Matt Linkous. “It’s difficult making a choice about someone else’s art, even if you’ve known them all your life and worked with them, even if they were your brother and best friend. We had long conversations about not wanting to take this into a different direction. We wanted to bring out what was there.”
Bird Machine will be released by Anti- on September 8, and is available to pre-order here. You can watch a video for the song “Evening Star Supercharger” below, featuring Linkous’s art and handwritten lyrics: