Crazy Clown Time
Crazy Clown Time is the second studio album and debut solo album by the American director and musician David Lynch. It was released on November 7, 2011 on PIAS and Sunday Best. Described as a "modern blues" album by Lynch, Crazy Clown Time was self-produced and four singles were released.
Crazy Clown Time
Upon its release, Crazy Clown Time received moderately positive reviews and placed in several international charts, including the U.S. Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart where it peaked at number 3.
Composition[edit]
Crazy Clown Time has been described by Lynch as "a collection of dark songs" in the style of "modern blues".[1] The album incorporates elements of avant-garde music,[4][5] including the use of feedback; noise; dissonance;[6] and soundscapes which feature "dense layers of texture".[1][4] Lynch's particular style of blues and his use of avant-garde techniques was commented on by Consequence of Sound, with writer Adam Rier saying that Lynch had "taken something very familiar to anyone who has listened to music in the Western world and turned it into something chilling, creepy [and] utterly Lynch-ian."[6] Several tracks on Crazy Clown Time, including "Good Day Today", are regarded as electronic pop.[3][7]
Lynch's "Fifties-style" guitar sound on Crazy Clown Time often features use of tremolo,[8][9][10] and other effects are used throughout the album, including considerable use of reverb and delay.[3] Lynch's vocal tracks are heavily processed,[9] through use of vocoders and modulation effects.[3][5]
Crazy Clown Time's lyrics have been described as "enigmatic" and some are written in a stream-of-consciousness style.[1] "Strange and Unproductive Thinking", which includes themes from "cosmic awareness to tooth decay",[5] features lyrics centered around and referencing Transcendental Meditation, a technique Lynch uses and is an advocate of.[11] Two songs on the album ("Strange and Unproductive Thinking" and "Crazy Clown Time") are delivered in a spoken-word vocal style.[5]
Lynch and engineer Dean Hurley composed all of the album's songs; Lynch wrote all of the song's lyrics.[12] Lynch and Hurley's songwriting process began as jams, around which songs "eventually found a form" and to which Lynch later penned the lyrics.[1]
Release[edit]
Crazy Clown Time was released worldwide on November 7, 2011. It was released on PIAS America in the U.S. and Sunday Best in Europe and made available on CD, double LP and as a digital download.[1] Special editions of the album were released internationally, including a collector's edition CD in Europe with a 16-page booklet;[12] a CD in Japan with the bonus track "I Have a Radio";[15] and an iTunes release with the bonus track "Sparkle Lounge Blues".[16] A limited-edition "Super-Deluxe" box set, including a double LP and single CD with artwork by David Lynch and a 24-page book of lyrics, was released in January 2012,[13] followed by a digital-only deluxe edition on August 6 that included several remixes of the album's songs by Skream, Moby, Underworld, Sasha, Trentemøller and Visionquest.[17]
Four singles from Crazy Clown Time were released. A double A-side single, "Good Day Today"/"I Know", was released in November 2010 to critical acclaim in the U.S. and the UK.[1][18] and "Speed Roadster" was made available for Lynch's official website in 2011. "Noah's Ark", a single-track 12-inch single featuring a remix of the song by Moby was released in April 2012; "Pinky's Dream" was released in August and featured two remixes by Trentemøller and Visionquest, as well as a previously unreleased remix of "Stone's Gone Up" by Thyte.[19]
All personnel credits adapted from Crazy Clown Time's album notes.[12]