Single Review. Sparklehorse - Don't Take My Sunshine Away.

‘Don’t Take My Sunshine Away’ is a cute, sweet, subversive effort at a love song that works pretty well on the whole with the simple declaration that “Baby you are my sunshine/Please don’t take my sunshine away” ruling the chorus and a well disguised ‘Heart-Shaped Box’ moment two and a half minutes involving a heavily distorted guitar solo ripping through the absent serenity that the majority of the track creates.

Whether this signifies a corruption of the love that Mark Linkous seems to be battling so hard to retain, or if he just thinks it sounds cool, I know not. I suspect the latter, and you know what? It does sound cool.

‘Ghost In The Sky (2006 version)’ and ‘Knives Of Sumertime’ are further confirmation that Linkous is a one-man, good mood construction machine. Like perhaps a snow machine at a particularly sparce Winter Olympics, he can pump out spring and summertime, on demand, like they’re the only seasons that exist. “You need summer? I’ve got summer,” is the kind of thing he’d say before blasting you with warm, glowing, relaxed sonic waves that make me think of gleeful spring-stepped children running in hay fields. He makes me feel like I’m getting a sun-tan in my cold room, in my bad chair, with a bowl or warm soup – and I cherish him for that.

Clearly he must live in his own world of niceness and joy, a different world to mine for sure, but whatever world that may be, I am certain that they are fully aware how talented he is.