The idea for Dark Night of the Soul was hatched during collaborations between Danger Mouse (aka Brian Burton) and Sparklehorse (led by Mark Linkous) for Sparklehorse’s 2006 album, Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain. Linkous mentioned that he had written songs that he didn’t feel comfortable singing, so Burton suggested they recruit other people to sing them. The plan took flight, but thanks to a copyright dispute between EMI and Burton, the sonic offerings on this 2009 project are just seeing the light of day.

The disc was put on hold and what the world ended up getting last year was a limited edition (5000 copies), hand-numbered book of David Lynch’s photographs accompanied by a blank CD-R, and while anyone who really cared about Dark Night of the Soul downloaded a high bit-rate leak last summer, the album’s proper release is, to put it lightly, bittersweet.

In March, Linkous — who previously overdosed in 1990 — shot himself in the heart with a rifle. Furthermore, Vic Chesnutt (who provides vocals on Dark Night’s “Grim Augury”) fatally overdosed on muscle relaxers on Christmas Day of 2009. While both men never got to officially see this chapter of their work publicly admired, they can rest assured that, thanks to Dark Night, their legacies will live on forever. Gone is the blank CD-R, and the 100-page booklet has shrunk to 48-pages on Dark Night’s deluxe version, but every track on the album remains intact and the whole thing now plays more like the ultimate gateway album for kids who hadn’t heard of Sparklehorse until artists like Death Cab for Cutie and The Flaming Lips posted their condolences online.

On “Revenge”, the Lips’ Wayne Coyne utilizes a cool, multi-tracked vocal to thoughtfully deliver very Linkous-y lyrics like “In my mind I have shot you and stabbed you through your heart/I just didn’t understand/the ricochet is the second part…the more it hurts you/the more it hurts me.” The track is the first of thirteen that cover different styles from Iggy Pop’s loud punk on “Pain”, to Suzanne Vega’s cheery pop on “The Man Who Played God”.

The album benefits from the myriad of styles each singer represents and the 40-minutes it takes to get through Dark Night are over before you can really absorb what just happened. “Insane Lullaby” sees the Shins’ James Mercer brings his brand of melancholy to a track that would be far gloomier had it’s vocal been tracked by Linkous and the Pixies’ Black Francis brings an aggressive edge to “Angel’s Harp” that would never be possible on Sparklehorse record.

Still, Linkous’ dark themes run throughout much of the record (Iggy Pop singing “Good karma will not get you anywhere/look at Jesus and his hair”, and the living room abortion imagery on the Chesnutt’s “Grim Augury”). Chesnutt’s contribution is eerily intriguing thanks in part to organs and synthesizers swirling in the background and warbly vocal that is simply haunting. It's immediately followed by the equally spooky title track that finds David Lynch asking for forgiveness over the deep tones of a lightly reverbed piano’s bass notes. The album was complete before both Linkous and Chesnutt passed away, but Burton’s choice of sequencing mysteriously underscores the album’s morbid history.

So, while Dark Night of the Soul may be a tough listen for some, it’s still a must-hear for anyone wanting to dive head first into Sparklehorse and required listening for fans trying to fully understand the anomaly that was Mark Linkous.