The Stranger, December 2001 Mark Lanegan (MUSIC) The solo work of former Screaming Trees frontman Mark Lanegan is intimate and haunted--but better than that, it's sophisticated. Like Tom Waits, Lanegan has a voice that's ravaged and rich with character, willfully cured by the smoke and booze that accompanies years of hard living. And when Lanegan makes sad, it never feels confessional or trite. Just deep. Field Songs, his most recent Sub Pop release, is eloquently shot through with death, loneliness, and odd bursts of humor that only a songwriter of Lanegan's caliber and character can effectively parlay. This man should be in your Seattle all-time top five, even if he does live in Los Angeles now. |