Review: David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti’s ‘Thought Gang’

For more than a quarter century, filmmaker David Lynch and composer Angelo Badalamenti have been sitting on some of the most compellingly bizarre creations either had worked on — even by David Lynch’s standards. Now they’ve finally released Thought Gang, a project that has only previously surfaced on Lynch’s soundtrack to Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me and in the backgrounds of his works like Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire. A far cry from the hipster, cool jazz of Twin Peaks or the dreamy pop of their work with singer Julee Cruise, the record is a schizophrenic, free-jazz experiment in which Badalamenti played with a couple of jazz ensembles that tried to put Lynch’s fantastical scenes to music; the director would either give them a scenario to interpret (such as people driving to the desert where they witness aliens) for an instrumental or they’d complement his beat poetry, like “A Real Indication” or “Woodcutters From Fiery Ships,” which are both about deranged people in strange circumstances (like his films). It’s unpredictable and uneven but also strangely compelling and overwhelmingly Lynchian. It’s a whole new side to these two that you didn’t know you wanted.