Sparklehorse

Mark Linkous

Sparklehorse was led by Mark Linkous, born on September 9, 1962 in Arlington, Virginia, a singer and multi-instrumentalist who was its only constant member. He had co-founded the Dancing Hoods in New York in the early 1980s, with an EP in 1984, 12 Jealous Roses (1985) and Hallelujah Anyway (1988), and spent a period in Los Angeles. Later he moved to Richmond, Virginia, where he met David Lowery, formerly of Camper Van Beethoven, who was forming Cracker and opening the Sound of Music studio. He said the band's name came from the words sounding good together and being a loose metaphor for a motorcycle.

The debut, Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot, came out on Capitol on September 26, 1995 in the US and May 6, 1996 in the UK. Chords I've Known, an EP, followed in April 1996, then Good Morning Spider (July 20, 1998 by its album article; the artist article says October 1998 and Trouser Press 1999), It's a Wonderful Life (June 2001, UK 49, with Tom Waits, PJ Harvey and Nina Persson as guests and Dave Fridmann producing), and Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain (September 25, 2006, with Danger Mouse). He toured with Radiohead in 1996 and opened for R.E.M. in 2002 and 2003, worked with Daniel Johnston, and made In the Fishtank with Christian Fennesz in 2009 and Dark Night of the Soul with Danger Mouse and David Lynch, released in 2010.

Linkous died on March 6, 2010, aged 47. Bird Machine, finished by his brother Matt Linkous and Melissa Moore Linkous with Steve Albini recording, came out on Anti- on September 8, 2023. Spin wrote in 2020 that he was more respected by his peers than recognized by the record-buying public, and tributes came from Patti Smith, Colin Greenwood, Jason Lytle and the Flaming Lips. The documentary This Is Sparklehorse was released in 2019 or 2022.