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Jul 20, 2020 Web Exclusive By Jake Uitti

Those looking to hear the signature rough and rugged sounds of Mark Lanegan, the Northwest’s broken angel of grunge music, when pressing play on his new LP, Straight Songs of Sorrow, will likely be met with some surprise at what unspools before their ears. However, if fans continue through the 60-plus-minute album, they should feel pleasantly surprised at what they take in. The 15-song record is plentiful in scope and ranges in directions well beyond Lanegan’s well-known gruff stoicism.

While the new LP assuredly includes its fair share of Lanegan gloom and doom (see: “At Zero Below” and “Skeleton Key” and “Bleed All Over”), there is a great deal of diversity on Straight Songs of Sorrow, too. On “Apples From a Tree,” Lanegan croons over a plucked acoustic like a forlorn David Bowie near the end of his days. The song is reflective, as if Lanegan is cloud gazing on a spring afternoon about to turn chilly. On “Churchbells, Ghosts,” Lanegan laments, sounding like a lonely Iggy Pop remembering a lost love.

Lanegan, who rose to popularity with his mid-’90s group, Screaming Trees, has released a dozen albums, or so, since hitting the scene. But Straight Songs of Sorrow may be the artist’s most eclectic work. Lanegan wrote the album, he says, directly after composing a revealing memoir. Upon finishing the book, Lanegan said the process of writing about the people and places in his life felt more like a Pandora’s Box of pain rather than catharsis. That wide-ranging emotional depth and personal connection soaks his new LP.

There is a great deal to investigate on Straight Songs of Sorrow, especially for the die-hard Lanegan fan. Each song is a mini film unto itself. And on each, the score is a little different. “Daylight in the Nocturnal House” feels like sitting atop a misty hill. “Internal Hourglass Discussion” feels like an early morning disco. “Ballad of a Dying Rover” is a walk through a midnight graveyard. But while there is a great deal of range on the new album, Lanegan weaves each track together with a specific thread. Namely, his own sordid time on this earth and the highs and lows of his prolific mind. (www.marklanegan.com)

Author rating: 8/10