Audio: Sparklehorse – “It Will Never Stop”

Single out now on Anti.

Well this is certainly an early Christmas present: a previously unreleased Sparklehorse song! It’s so great to hear Mark Linkous’ voice again. This is the first “new” song released since Linkous killed himself in 2010.

No information yet on when it was recorded, but we know where: Linkous’ own rehearsal space Static King and Montrose Recording in Richmond, Virginia. It features Richmond-based engineer Alan Weatherhead on guitar. Weatherhead recorded and played on “More Yellow Birds” from It’s A Wonderful Life (Capitol, 2001) and “Return To Me” from Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly Of A Mountain (Capitol, 2006).

We should all be thankful that Capitol isn’t claiming this recording as its own, as major labels are wont to do (see: Elliott Smith), but it’s coming out on the indie that Linkous signed with near the end of his life: Anti-. Hopefully there’s a lot more in the vault.

I’m still hoping we will eventually get to hear some of the stuff that was recorded with Steve Albini at Electrical in Chicago in the fall of 2009. We know that “More than half a dozen songs were tracked by the end of the session, including nearly all of the instrumental parts. But Linkous was unable to finish his vocals because of a scratchy throat.”

The cover art is from a piece that Linkous painted by on his 1960s Ampeg Reverberocket 2 amplifier road case.