CHRYSTABELL & DAVID LYNCH - CELLOPHANE MEMORIES

Released: 02/08/24

Of all of David Lynch’s prolific musical output it is his collaboration with the US singer-songwriter Chrystabell that I love the most. By the time of their first album together, 2011’s This Train, they’d already known each for over a decade, and it really showed, their shared musical understanding a wonder to behold. Where both the debut and the 2016 EP Somewhere in the Nowhere hewed closely to Massive Attack-style torch-song trip-hop, Americana, and Laurie Anderson-esque avant-electronica, on the wonderful Cellophane Memories the pair lean into Mazzy Star-like alt-country and ambient synths, beautifully paired with lo-fi percussion reminiscent of Dirty Beaches. 

There is also a marked change in Chrystabell’s singing style. Gone is the quasi-operatic approach, reminiscent of Alison Goldfrapp, replaced by something more brooding, bewitching, that has something of the hushed gnomic wisdom of PJ Harvey in alt-folk mode, and the otherworldly raw beauty of Bardo Pond’s Isobel Sollenberger. Standout tracks include 'The Answers to the Questions', in which Chrystabell sings two vocal lines – her voice subtly in dialogue with itself – which break, with gentle insistence, over the listener like a wave.