The Black Lodge (David Lynch’s Tribute) is less of a traditional compilation and more like a transmission from a parallel place. One where saxophones echo through crimson curtains, and upright basslines throb under the weight of cigarette smoke and memory.
It brings together 38 artists from across the dark jazz, doom jazz, ambient, and experimental jazz spectrum in a slow, textured séance for the late filmmaker.
“There’s no one like Lynch,” the label writes. “We asked [the artists] to come together and join us in a heartfelt musical tribute—one final, shadowy journey into the Black Lodge to carry the memory of the great Maestro forward.”
Opening with The Lovecraft Sextet’s take on In Heaven—the Lady in the Radiator’s ghost lullaby from Eraserhead—Jason Köhnen leads a restrained yet haunted interpretation, with vocals by Antonia Marquee and an Optigan arranged by Peas Hicks. “Dedicated to the loving transcendental memory of David Lynch,” Köhnen writes, “thank you for your art, you will be missed.” It’s cinematic but unforced, leaning into texture more than dramatics, a common thread across the record.
From there, the fog thickens. Michael Arthur Holloway’s The Moon Divers whispers through analog debris; Trigg & Gusset’s Krakau stretches over six minutes with restrained noir elegance. “Happy to have stumbled here,” listener Ryan Hamilton commented, picking it as a favorite. The track glides in quiet reverence—bass-heavy, delicately paced, a kind of post-midnight train ride with no clear destination.
One of the most affecting moments comes via Neononne’s To Laura (New Mix), a reworking of Angelo Badalamenti’s composition. Kolin Zein leads a group of seasoned players including Dmitry Ishenko on upright bass and Elijah Shiffer on sax, recorded by Martin Bisi at BC Studios and mastered by Fred Kevorkian. It’s subtle, textured, and carried by memory more than drama.
Two entries by Dark Jazz Cafe Assembly mark different moods—Audrey’s Dance is a faithful and moody homage to Badalamenti’s original from Twin Peaks, while Venture Perilous, taken from Too Late for Jazz, is an original that blends menace with poise, almost like a soundtrack for a highway that doesn’t exist on any map.
Dead Melodies pulls in more atmospheric noir and dark ambient dust on Eyes of Black, written and produced by Tom Moore and originally from Sleepy Town of Winter (2023). Joel Fausto & Illusion Orchestra’s Lost in the Park carries the same decayed dreamlogic, while Segensklang returns twice with The Owls Shine and Room 315, both loaded with Twin Peaks overtones without veering into pastiche.
Several artists riff on Lynch/Badalamenti directly—Bebopovsky’s Twin Peaks Theme is a short, foggy meditation. Macelleria Mobile di Mezzanotte’s Blue Dream hovers near silence in some sections, while HEFT’s Silence is as brittle and minimal as its title suggests.
Elsewhere, jazz instrumentation is disfigured, stretched, and used like ritual language.
Waveshard’s The Void and Vainoras and the altar of the drill’s Upswing for the downbeat feel like slow rituals with no clear beginning. Noctuid’s Detective Holmes is slow-burning noir, while Lowering’s Alcoholism turns inward and isolates the decay. Manet adds shortwave radio into the mix on IX, building a grainy ambiance with Christo Morehead on upright bass and Michael Iago Mellender’s noise manipulation.
Other notable appearances include Detour Doom Ensemble’s Cadillac’s bones, Six Fingered People’s creeping Nocturne Key, and The Orchestra of Mirrored Reflections’s sprawling Walking Black Hole, where Jol Tai blends guitar, alto sax, saz, synths, bass, and drums himself to create something simultaneously oppressive and hollow.
The longest track on the release, Fax Modem’s Turbo, clocks in at 13 minutes and warps out with digital disorientation. Der Finger’s Inside is a swirling piece where bass, saxophones, and gongs move together in an uneasy meditation. Final entries by BEMIII (Masi biocyrcle) and Apostrophe (Broken Memories) blur experimental noise and narrative residue.
The listening party for The Black Lodge will be held July 15 at 7 PM GMT+2. It’s free, and open to anyone who has ever been drawn into Lynch’s world—into a room with red curtains, strange sounds, and the feeling that something familiar is being remembered through someone else’s dream.
