Soundtrack Mix #37 | Floating Through This Darkness: David Lynch

“Good morning. It’s March 25,” an unmistakably nasal, midwestern voice says, “...a somewhat cloudy morning.” This mix opens with one of David Lynch’s weather reports from his YouTube channel. Without intention, this specific weather report coincided with the exact date on which I sat down to begin writing about the mix. Passing through the secret doorways in our minds, we connect this wonderful world we were lucky to share with Lynch with the work he made that we are so lucky to have. Not only did the dates coincide: the weather outside my apartment window in Berlin was the same that Lynch reported on a spring day in Los Angeles four years ago. Uncanny. This tunnel between time, Lynch’s then and my now, feels like an apt way to begin the mix and this introduction. I’ve been waiting years to make a Lynch-themed mix; it was on my ideas list for this column more than six years ago, put on hold for scheduling reasons, time passed, and other projects and life took over. Then, a little over a year after his death, the Pace Gallery in Berlin staged an exhibition of his work and Lynch's music was in my mind again.

It was a beautiful spring day and the whole downstairs gallery of the exhibition was tinted red by a large colored glass window, as if lit by Lynch himself. One of Lynch’s early experimental shorts, Alphabet (1969), was playing on loop, but the red light already set the atmosphere as Lynchian. Upstairs were art works in mediums Lynch often worked in but which are rarely discussed: illustrations, lamps, paintings, and monochrome photographs. I found them all charming in their details of naivety and access to dreams, in their utter unpretentiousness. Paintings featured midcentury dolls and treehouses in scenes of childhood play, yet twisted, like something out of Francis Bacon. The drawings were sweet in nature but to the point; the midcentury lamps evoked a mixture of glamour and intentionally offkilter clumsiness. Monochrome photographs of old Berlin industrial spaces, reminiscent of Lynch’s early soundscapes from the Eraserhead (1977) days. The gallery space occupies a former 1950s petrol station in West Berlin, as Americana a setting as you can get in Germany. The day carried a suspended quality, I felt happy to be alive, looking at various forms of Lynch’s artist expression. I went home to begin listening and watching, going back and forth in my memories in which David Lynch’s art is so prevelant.

“Floating Through This Darkness” is a two-hour sound work dedicated to the great American artist. A sound collage wrapped in classic songs, scores, and fragmented moments from some of my favourite films and scenes. With a career like Lynch’s, even in the field of sound and music, it is impossible to fit in all that matters, all that’s cool, and it’s tempting to enthusiastically overfill. The mix references the wide range of his output, from advertising stints for classic 90s perfume and PlayStation and some of my most cherished songs—This Mortal Coil’s “Song to the Siren” and Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game”—to pioneering industrial, droney soundscapes, the genius of Angelo Badalamenti, and the exquisite dream pop of Julee Cruise. I mention these names because Lynch’s world isn’t just about Lynch alone. For screens big and small, he brought together brilliant artists to meet in sonic rendezvous. Together, Lynch and his collaborators connect the secret pathways of imagination. In making this mix, I am reminded he had an almost supernatural sensibility when it comes to using sound and song to express something deeply about the world he lived in, and wanted us to share.

For an artist that has meant so much to me, there’s simply too much to say, so I’ll stop here and encourage you to immerse yourself into a Lynchian soundscape. I love you, David, and thank you for everything.

TRACKLIST

All films & TV directed by David Lynch. All tracks produced by David Lynch & Angelo Badalamenti unless stated otherwise.

1. Excerpt, David Lynch, Weather Report 3/25/22 (2022) (edit) (00:00)
2. “Sneaky Audrey (Audrey's Investigation),” Angelo Badalamenti and David Lynch, The Twin Peaks Archive (2011) (edit) (00:00)
3. Excerpt, The Alphabet (1969) (01:52)
4. “Until the End of the World,” Julee Cruise (02:15)
5. Excerpt, Inland Empire (2006) (edit) (07:00)
6. “The Black Dog Runs at Night,” Angelo Badalamenti, David Lynch, and Thought Gang, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992) (edit) (07:40)
7. “Dub Driving,” Angelo Badalamenti, Lost Highway (1997)
8. Excerpt, Opium Yves Saint Laurent advertisement (1992) (edit) (12:50)
9. “Blue Velvet Suite,” Angelo Badalamenti, Blue Velvet (1986) (13:45)
10. “The Big Dream,” David Lynch (14:56)
11. “In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song),” David Lynch, Alan R.Spelt, Eraserhead (1977) (19:00)
12. Excerpt, Mulholland Drive (2001) (edit) (20:40)
13. Excerpt, Ballerina (2007) (edit) (20:40)
14. “Distant Train,” Angelo Badalamenti, David Lynch, Twin Peaks Archive (2011) (edit) (23:50)
15. “In Dreams,” Roy Orbison, Blue Velvet (1986) (25:15)
16. “Great Northern Piano Tune #2,” Angelo Badalamenti, David Lynch, The Twin Peaks Archive (2011) (edit) (28:00)
17. Excerpt, Twin Peaks: The Return (2017) (edit) (30:15)
18. “I'm Hurt Bad (Industrial Symphony No. 1 Version),” Angelo Badalamenti, David Lynch, Twin Peaks Archive (2011) (31:40)
19. “This Is Our Night,” Julee Cruise (33:56)
20. Excerpt, Rabbits (2002) (edit) (37:30)
21. “The Elephant Man Theme,” John Morris, Elephant Man (1980)
22. Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima,” Krzysztof Penderecki, Twin Peaks: The Return (2017) (edit) (45:30)
23. “Sprinkler,” Angelo Badalamenti, The Straight Story (1999) (47:30)
24. “Eraserhead Suite,” David Lynch, Alan R.Spelt, Eraserhead (1977) (edit) (50:30)
25. Except, David Lynch TV interview with William Mullally (2017) (edit) (51:40)
26. “The Perfect Drug,” Nine Inch Nails, Lost Highway (1997) (53:30)
27. Excerpt, Obsession Calvin Klein advertisement (1990) (edit) (58:20)
28. “Sycamore Trees,” Jimmy Scott, Twin Peaks (Season 2) (1991) (58:50)
29. Excerpt, Twin Peaks (Season 2) (1991) (edit) (62:40)
30. “Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made of,” Angelo Badalamenti, David Lynch, The Twin Peaks Archive (2011) (edit) (67:00)
31. Angelo Badalamenti, “Country Waltz,” The Straight Story (1999) (67:30)
32. Excerpt, Rabbits (2002) (edit) (70:30)
33. “Polish Poem,” Chrystabell and David Lynch, Inland Empire (2006) (71:30)
34. “This Magic Moment,” Lou Reed, Lost Highway (1997) (77:00)
35. “Blue Velvet,” Isabella Rossellini, Blue Velvet (1986) (80:00)
36. “Dark Night Of The Soul,” Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse ft. David Lynch (81:57)
37. “Prophecy Theme,” Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, Roger Eno, Dune (1984) (87:00)
38. Excerpt, PlayStation 2 advertisement (2000) (edit) (89:40)
39. Excerpt, David Lynch Theatre YouTube (edit) (90:35)
40. “Up in Flames,” Koko Taylor, Wild at Heart (1990) (90:56)
41. “Falling,” Julee Cruise, Twin Peaks (1990) (97:00)
42. Excerpt, Mulholland Drive (2001) (edit) (102:30)
43. “Anthology Resource Vol. 1,” Dean Hurley, Twin Peaks: The Return (2017) (edit) (104:00)
44. “Pretty 50s,” David Lynch, John Neff, Mulholland Drive (2001) (105:45)
45. Excerpt, Lost Highway (1997) (edit) (108:30)
46. “Wicked Game,” Chris Isaak, Wild at Heart (1990) (115:20)