A posthumous Sparklehorse album has been announced, marking the first full-length collection of new music since songwriter Mark Linkous died by suicide in 2010. Bird Machine arrives September 8 via Anti-. The 14-track project includes the single “It Will Never Stop,” which Linkous’ younger brother Matt released last December. Today, Matt Linkous has released another song, “Evening Star Supercharger,” along with the album announcement. Find it below.
Matt Linkous has spent the past several years overseeing his late brother’s estate and archiving his recordings. The music on Bird Machine was initially meant to appear on the fifth Sparklehorse LP, originally slated for 2009. Mark Linkous recorded the tracks with Steve Albini in Chicago, as well as with his 1968 Flickinger mixing console at his own Static King studio. Mark Linkous had recorded most of the album; he jotted down the title and a tracklisting in handwritten notes later received by Matt.
Years after Mark Linkous’ death, Matt and Mark’s sister-in-law Melissa began sifting though boxes of tapes in order to piece together Bird Machine. “It was as though the songs let you know,” Melissa said in press materials. “Mark communicated these songs. We just did our best to transmit them.” Many of the songs were near completion already, while others received subtle additions by producer Alan Weatherhead, who co-produced with Matt and Melissa, mixer Joel Hamilton, and engineer Greg Calbi, who had worked with Sparklehorse in the past.
“It’s the hardest decision I’ve ever made,” Matt said of the process. “It’s difficult making a choice about someone else’s art, even if you’ve known them all your life and worked with them, even if they were your brother and best friend. We had long conversations about not wanting to take this into a different direction. We wanted to bring out what was there.”
He added: “It means so much to me, this last batch of beautiful stuff that my brother was putting together. When I sit down and put on a pair of headphones, I’ll run it all the way through. Everything from ‘It Will Never Stop’ to ‘Evening Star Supercharger’ to ‘Stay,’ that’s Mark just letting it out.”
Revisit the 2015 feature “The Sad and Beautiful World of Sparklehorse’s Mark Linkous.” Plus, read Pitchfork’s Sunday Review of the band’s Good Morning Spider.
All products featured on Pitchfork are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Bird Machine:
01 It Will Never Stop
02 Kind Ghosts
03 Evening Star Supercharger
04 O Child
05 Falling Down
06 I Fucked It Up
07 Hello Lord
08 Daddy’s Gone
09 Chaos of the Universe
10 Listening to the Higsons
11 Everybody’s Gone to Sleep
12 Scull of Lucia
13 Blue
14 Stay
https://pitchfork.com/news/new-posthumous-sparklehorse-album-announced
