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With all the famous folk found on the third-time's-the-charm longplayer for Sparklehorse, it's funny that the album's finest audio comes when head 'horse honcho Mark Linkous is at the helm. Forget the presence of studio-duking dudes like John Parish, Adrian Utley and Dave Fridmann — and, oh, please, forget the terrible turn by Tom Waits. It's when Linkous is off in his hallucinatory own little world that things get really enveloping, like amidst the vinyl crackles, radio mic-tone, and optigan and chamberlin drones on the title-track opener, softly stepping through the quietest new-morning sun (replete with both bird twitters and crappy Grandaddy-styled burbles). Or on the two slow-and-cuddling sweetheart acoustic-strummed odes "Apple Bed" and "Little Fat Baby," which find him dulcetly duetting with Nina Persson and Sophie Michelitsianos respectively. Speaking of duetting, a notable b/v turn comes in the form of possibly the most noted human in the album's veritable parade of them — Polly Jean Harvey, who adds her captivating croon to a maudlin minor-key piano ballad called "Eyepennies," her voice seeming even more deep and strong when entwining with Linkous' dying-breath whisper.
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