David Lynch has been away from film far too long. Admittedly as the master of disturbing cinematic dreams that transcend genre and all attempts at classification, Lynch never seemed to fit with the Hollywood scene. An artist seemingly oblivious to convention, the living icon of a man has unsurprisingly turned his sights away from the silver screen since 2006's Inland Empire. Focusing instead on transcendental meditation, his personal line of organic coffee, and occasional short flicks, Lynch has also increasingly dabbled in the world of the music.
The Big Dream, Lynch's second full-length solo record, arrives close to the release of Nine Inch Nails' "comeback" music video, directed by Lynch and featuring surreal imagery akin to his debut film Eraserhead. Such surrealism carries over to Lynch's electro-blues sophomore musical effort, a slickly produced, vaguely nightmarish, lyrically disjointed attempt at capturing his art in album form.
Reminiscent of the endearingly high-pitched, childlike vocals of Daniel Johnston, Lynch's distinct voice rambles along rather smoothly to a mix of sensual beats, noirish guitar chords, and folky train-hopping rhythms. Less experimental than one might expect from the lord of the strange, The Big Dream nonetheless matches simple "I want you" sentiments with offbeat reflections on sock colors, foreign beers, and shotgun suicides in a manner that feels characteristically Lynchian.
The album's penultimate track, "The Line It Curves," washed in a rich synthetic ambience, contains more clarity and achingly raw desire than a listener might expect from Mr. Lynch. The dreaminess of his vision seems to add up to something more lucid than previous tracks suggest, and by the time "Are You Sure" concludes the work, Lynch proves a "Wild at Heart" romantic. The Big Dream isn't as big as Lynch's greatest achievements, but it is dreamy and it is Lynch.
Grade: B
