Sparklehorse

Sparklehorse is Mark Linkous, a Virginia native and last of a long line of southern coalminers. Linkous records much of Sparklehorse's material in his home studio, and his Southern Gothic vision guides Sparklehorse. Drummer and multi-instrumentalist Scott Minor is a frequent collaborator.

Much of Sparklehorse's music has an introspective, melancholy feel, which Linkous credits to a chemical imbalance. His lyrics are full of odd imagery: Joe Tangari describes Linkous' songs as "defiantly surrealist ... with all manner of references to smiling babies, organ music, birds, and celestial bodies ... In fact, some of the lyrics are so surreal that it's hard to imagine they're even metaphors for anything." [2]

Musically, Sparklehorse are not far removed from alt country, though there are as many differences as similarities between that genre and Sparklehorse: Linkous is fond of incorporating obsolete musical instruments or technologies (such as woozy mellotrons, scratchy,...