ANTI 7th November 2025
What a great title, drawn from the third track by the achingly expressive but haunted Mark Linkous. And Mavis Staples makes it clear that isn’t just a Sparklehorse song, reliant on his special sound, it’s a sparse, simple and true song; it’s a sad and beautiful world. The same is true of the rest of the songs here. Kicking off with the blues of ‘Chicago’, the record travels through hope, calls for peace, gospel, all coming from the heart.
Staples is, of course, one of America’s national treasures. Part of The Staples Singers, she has earned her place in the American music pantheon. That voice brings a personal expression to each set of lyrics, inhabiting and owning the meaning. Fortunately her position in music’s greats brings outstanding musicians to play, including Derek Trucks (of the Allman Brothers Band), Jeff Tweedy (of Wilco), Bonnie Raitt, Buddy Guy, Patterson Hood (of Drive By Truckers) and rising star, MJ Lenderman. They form a rotating core band for most of the songs.
Brad Cook, on production got very personal performances by going for just vocals, drums and piano, adding additional musical expression later, playing in the spaces, giving full space to the main act, Mavis’ voice. Frank Ocean’s ‘Godspeed’ is a highlight, acknowledging frailty while hymning solidarity, as is the much-covered ‘A Satisfied Mind’, seeming to touch a special place of strong belief in Staples and allowing beautiful interpolations from the band. Kevin Morby’s ‘Beautiful Strangers’, written in the wake of a hate-filled shooting in the US, is expresses love and light amid dark times.
‘Hard Times’ has been recorded by everyone and deservedly so, an 1854 song that carries the spirit of today, showing the universality of the human experience. Derek Truck’s guitar fluidly weaves through the song, adding depths of feeling. Leonard Cohen’s late masterpiece, ‘Anthem’, is uplifting as ever, “there is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in”.
The whole set is a living, breathing expression of ineffable hope amid the ongoing challenges of the world and is a panacea for anyone who despairs of the state of the world.
Our interviews with Mark Linkous / Sparklehorse:
from 2003
http://www.vgmusic.f9.co.uk/interv24.htm
from 2006
http://www.vgmusic.f9.co.uk/0611IS.htm