Danger Mouse Looks Through
A Label, Darkly

The final product isn't exactly what Danger Mouse envisioned, but the cutting-edge producer breathed a heavy sigh of relief with the release of Dark Night of the Soul, a multimedia package he created in tandem with songwriter Mark Linkous (the creative force behind Sparklehorse) consisting of a record and a large-form book of photos commissioned from filmmaker David Lynch. For the album, Danger Mouse and Linkous created moody backing tracks, then offered them to 10 vocalists who were charged to write lyrics and vocal melodies (contributors include Iggy Pop, the Strokes' Julian Casablancas, the Shins' James Mercer, Suzanne Vega and Pixies' Black Francis). "We had no intention of making a star-studded record," says Danger Mouse, born Brian Burton. "It's just when we started thinking about these people we just thought, 'Well, of course they'd sound good on a record together.' "

The catch, which Danger Mouse describes as "bittersweet," is that the CD mounted in Dark Night of the Soul package is completely blank. Buyers are slyly encouraged to use the recordable disc to capture the music from the Internet, where it is widely available as a free, though illegal, download. Danger Mouse's inability to package the music with the book stems from a long-standing contractual disagreement with EMI, who retainrights to some of his music. (Burton was signed to Lex Records, which entered into a relationship with EMI, though his Gnarls Barkley work is distributed by Atlantic Records.) With hopes of emancipating himself from his contract with EMI, Burton refuses to air his grievances in public. Those close to the situation say that while the court of public opinion would side with Danger Mouse in his dispute with EMI, the contract is nevertheless valid. An EMI representative issued a statement reading, "Danger Mouse is a brilliant, talented artist ... We continue to make every effort to resolve this situation and we are talking to Brian directly. Meanwhile, we need to reserve our rights."

When Linkous first heard the Danger Mouse's Grey Album — the groundbreaking 2005 digital mash-up of the Beatles and Jay-Z — he was suffering from a block in creativity, and thought Burton may help him out of his shell. Burton, it turns out, was a fan of Sparklehorse. "I really loved all three of their albums," says Burton. Linkous adds, "Next thing I know I was picking him up at the airport in North Carolina."