Dark Night of the Soul is a studio album by Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse, featuring collaborations by numerous notable musicians. Its release was postponed due to a legal dispute with the album's distributor EMI. It was finally released in July 2010, about a year after it had been leaked to the Internet and Danger Mouse had released a blank CD-R as a way of working around the dispute. The album was commercially successful in the United Kingdom, and was well-received by music critics.
The album was the subject of a legal dispute with the project's record label EMI. It was initially reported in early 2009 that there was a possibility that the album might never see release. However, the book was made available for sale on the official website of Dark Night of the Soul, bundled with a blank recordable CD-R. All copies were clearly labeled as follows: The audio portion of the album was widely leaked around the same time. Without going into detail, EMI acknowledged the legal dispute and released the following statement: Both parties of the dispute remained silent about the particulars, but it is believed that the problems with distribution centered on a record deal that Danger Mouse signed with Lex Records. In early 2010, it was announced that Dark Night of the Soul was slated for a tentative summer 2010 release, even though the CD-R version had been available since the previous May. A Lex Records logo appears next to the Capitol Records logo on the final version.
Official release
The full album was officially released July 12, 2010, in multiple formats. The album features a hand-numbered 100-plus-page book of photos taken by David Lynch, said to be a visual narrative for the music. This book was limited to 5,000 copies. This was the final album that Sparklehorse leader Mark Linkous completed before his suicide on March 6, 2010, although In the Fishtank 15—recorded in 2007—was released later, and Linkous was working on another LP at the time of his death. It was also one of the final works recorded by Vic Chesnutt before his suicide.
Reception
Dark Night of the Soul reached No. 32 in the UK Albums Chart. It has been-well received by music critics. PopMatters wrote: "Few contemporary pop albums have spoken to the human condition so eloquently, and given the listener so much pleasure in the process, than Dark Night of the Soul. It's no exaggeration to say Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse have crafted a near-masterpiece." The New York Times was less favourable, writing: "especially for a record that required so much effort, too much here feels incidental. Dark Night may end up being the final document on the ineffectiveness of Danger Mouse, a better conceptualist and prankster than producer."
