Mike Fleming

His last feature was 2006′s Inland Empire and he hasn’t directed a widely distributed movie since 2001′s Mulholland Drive, but that doesn’t mean Eraserhead helmer David Lynch has disappeared completely. Lynch’s debut solo album Crazy Clown Time will drop on Nov. 8 from British label Sunday Best Recordings and PIAS in the US. Lynch, who has often written music for his many films, has 14 original songs here on which he plays guitar and sings. He also produced the tracks. The songs are dark; Lynch describes his style as “modern blues.” He gave a taste with the release of Good Day Today and I Know, both of which are on the album. Those songs are pulsating, synthesizer-heavy dance tunes with heavily processed vocals that will likely be as polarizing as Lynch’s films; some will love it, others will check their ears for bleeding. Recording artist is the latest stop on an eclectic and unpredictable career. Lynch has made some films reserved for hard-core fans (Wild at Heart and Dune), but when he is on, there is no filmmaker quite like him. That includes films like Blue Velvet and Elephant Man; and the first season of his creepily atmospheric TV series Twin Peaks set a bar so high that TV cable dramas are still trying to surpass it. Here’s a video done for I Know: