Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse first heard the Robyn Hitchcock song “Listening to the Higsons” as a single in the early ’80s. It became a staple in his listening queue during that era, and it remained a go-to cut when he recorded the electrifying version being released today with Steve Albini at Electrical Audio in 2009.
The track is featured on Bird Machine, the posthumous Sparklehorse album coming out on September 8 via ANTI- Records. Linkous had been working on his fifth album in late 2009 and early 2010—with Albini in Chicago and in front of his beloved 1968 Flickinger mixing console at his Static King studio—when the depression which had shadowed him for many years began to deepen. On March 6, he tragically took his own life at the age of 47.
Linkous was famously a perfectionist about his work, and the question of whether to complete the album weighed heavily on his brother and archivist, Matt. “It’s the hardest decision I’ve ever made,” he said. “It’s difficult making a choice about someone else’s art, even if you’ve known them all your life and worked with them, even if they were your brother and best friend. We had long conversations about not wanting to take this into a different direction. We wanted to bring out what was there.”
Pre-order Bird Machine here, and stream “Listening to the Higsons” below.
