Mark Lanegan and Isobel Campbell - Sunday at Devil Dirt Review

Posted by Jasper Jones on 12.03.2008

Mark Lanegan and Isobell Campbell team up again and this time they get even sexier!



1. "Seafaring Song" (3:32)
2. "The Raven" (4:59)
3. "Salvation" (3:19)
4. "Who Built the Road" (2:55)
5. "Come on Over (Turn Me On)" (4:41)
6. "Back Burner" (6:36)
7. "The Flame That Burns" (3:38)
8. "Shot Gun Blues" (3:52)
9. "Keep Me in Mind Sweetheart" (2:35)
10. "Something to Believe" (3:33)
11. "Trouble" (4:49)
12. "Sally Don't You Cry" (2:44)

The comparisons to beauty and the beast or to Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra are inevitable, but those comparisons ring true. On one hand you have Mark Lanegan's cigarette and whiskey-soaked voice, and on the other hand you have Isobel Campbell with her whispery, ghost-like vocals. When you take these two very different styles and put them together, the musical energy created is definitely something to be heard.

Mark Lanegan began his career as the vocalist for the grunge rock group Screaming Trees. Since the band's break up in 2000, Lanegan has keep himself busy with his own solo work and by lending his vocals to projects from other bands like Queens of the Stone Age, The Gutter Twins, The Twilight Singers, and the Soulsavers. Isobel Campbell is a Scottish singer who began her career playing cello and singing for Belle & Sebastian. She left the group in 2002 to pursue a solo career and has since released two solo albums and written dozens upon dozens of songs.

The two released their first collaboration in 2006 entitled Ballad of the Broken Seas. Most of the songs were written by Campbell and the majority of them were sung by Lanegan. After the tour to support the album was over, Campbell realized that she had several more songs for Lanegan to sing. About a year later she asked him if he'd like to do another album with her and he replied, "in a heartbeat."

Once again, most of the songs on Sunday at Devil Dirt are sung by Lanegan with backup from Campbell. All, except the song, "Shot Gun Blues" which features Campbell prominently, whispering sensually. The song sounds like something right off the soundtrack to Black Snake Moan. Whatever affliction Christina Ricci had in the film that made her crave sex is the exact thing that Isobel Campbell is suffering from in this song. "I got an inch need scratchin' / you take good care of me".

"The Raven" was obviously inspired by the Edgar Allen Poe song of the same name, but it's a dramatically different story. Lanegan's gravelly voice sings about a raven at his window that turns into a beautiful woman who floats into his room and makes love to him. In reality there was no floating woman and no sweet love making. The man in the song is suffering from a strong fever on his death bed. The beautiful woman is actually death who has come for his soul.

The current single from the album is called "Come On Over (Turn Me On)". It seems like the perfect theme song for a Bond film that has a strong sexual female villain. One that could even seduce James Bond himself. The song oozes with sex. It's like Lanegan and Campbell are having vocal intercourse with each other.

Is Sunday At Devil Dirt better than Ballad of the Broken Seas? Yes it is. Ballad of the Broken Seas now seems like a test run to see if Sunday At Devil Dirt would work. This is a much more sophisticated and matured album, from the vocal work to the songwriting to the musical arrangement.

The 411: Sunday at Devil Dirt is a slow-moving, grinding, sexual album. The vocal contrast between Mark Lanegan and Isobel Campbell is perfect for the setting. The whole album seems like a good soundtrack for a long night of dirty loving.

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]