1) Pig; 2) Painbirds; 3) Saint Mary; 4) Good Morning Spider; 5) Sick of Goodbyes; 6) Box of Stars (Part One); 7) Sunshine; 8) Chaos of the Galaxy/Happy Man; 9) Hey, Joe; 10) Come On In; 11) Maria’s Little Elbows; 12) Cruel Sun; 13) All Night Home; 14) Ghost of His Smile; 15) Hundreds of Sparrows; 16) Box of Stars (Part Two); 17) Junebug
Chaotic and peaceful at the same time: the conflicting moods of a man in recovery, captured in vulnerable melodies and the occasional throwback to the wilder days.
The thematic heart of Good Morning Spider is “Chaos of the Galaxy/Happy Man”, which is aptly located right in its center. “Happy Man” is a fantastic 90s indie rock classic and a rare example of the oft-worn out Mark Linkous most high on life - exuberantly looking outwards, culminating in a most triumphant chorus where Linkous shouts his desperation away. The chaos of the galaxy eats it away though, in the form of a radio static that dips in and out of its echo-filled emotional distance, obscuring Linkous’ lust for life with its persistent hum that sometimes drowns the song completely. It effectively distorts what could have been a true break-out moment for Sparklehorse, seemingly in an act of self-sabotage. It however makes for a fitting allegory for the whole of Good Morning Spider and Linkous’ state of mind within.
Shortly after the first Sparklehorse album Linkous suffered a drug overdose that left him legally dead for a brief moment before he miraculously pulled through. The incident caused a great ripple: Linkous attributed the melancholy, dream-like textures and the frail mood of his later albums to his brain’s chemical state having been permanently altered by his near-death experience. Good Morning Spider is the transition. It’s an album of convalescence: Linkous’ ache is all over the songs, his energy sapped but will pushing through.
“Pig” opens the album like none of that ever happened, with a cheeky punk rage that rolls and roars in a fun, chaotic fashion. It’s a huge red herring though, because as soon as it’s over Linkous collapses. The off-beat 90s American indie streak of the debut album is recognisably present, but it progressively gets overtaken by quiet mid-tempo mood pieces and a persistent atmosphere of weary bittersweetness. Early cuts like “Pig” or the most Vivadixie-esque “Sick of Goodbyes” quickly make space for simple songs where Linkous’ filtered vocals sound like they’re separated by a great distance from the rest. Out of all the Sparklehorse albums this is the quietest, almost meditatively so. Perhaps predictably its greatest parts are where that stillness gets broken: apart from any already mentioned, its the likes of the deceptively perky “Ghost of His Smile”, elegiac “Hundreds of Sparrows” and the soaring, incredibly pretty “Maria’s Little Elbows” (Linkous really had a damn good knack for a killer hook, even if he often understated it) which you take with you from Good Morning Spider.
Without undermining the strengths of Good Morning Spider, it’s not an album that boasts with its songwriting. These aren’t show-off songs and they rarely bother with even entertaining the thoughts, but they sound gorgeous and they do it with a sense of depth to them. A stream of consciousness runs strongly through the Sparklehorse discography all the way from the surreal nature of the lyrics, but on Good Morning Spider that sense is the strongest. The bulk of it doesn’t bounce out and grip the listener that way, but the obviously therapeutic nature they had on Linkous comes out in a frail, intimate beauty that’s strong in its own right. They’re songs that you may not hum away from the album but which feel essential when you play them.
The greatest part of “Chaos of the Galaxy/Happy Man” is in its last third, where the “Happy Man” portion has been completely eaten away by the noise right as it had started to explode – and then the song starts pushing back, growing in volume until it breaks free from the static and bursts out with all its strength right as it starts to take flight. It’s a true moment of triumph, not just artistically and musically, but also conceptually - it’s Linkous tearing away his medical demons for one brief moment of victory. For all its pain, Good Morning Spider isn’t a sad album. It’s about recovery.
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