Tipping His Hat

t's a weathered voice that responds down the phone line from Los Angeles, California. This is the voice of 48-year-old Mark Lanegan: a rare breed of vocalist as there's as much beauty in his tone as there is heartbreak.

We're on the phone to discuss Lanegan's eighth studio record Imitations, 12 tracks made famous by disparate artists ranging from Chelsea Wolfe and Nick Cave to Frank Sinatra and John Cale, one of Lanegan's musical heroes. You'll find a Twilight Singers song on the album (Deepest Shade) that his friend and Gutter Twins collaborator Greg Dulli offered to him, while a trio of Andy Williams tunes suit the dimly lit country lounge mood nicely.

Forever uncompromising with his musical vision, Lanegan says that the recording process this time around was a more relaxed affair than his first run at a covers record.

“It can be difficult, at least it was the first time around in the nineties; that turned out to be a little more troubled than I thought it was going to be,” he remarks, making reference to 1999's I'll Take Care Of You, a release that saw the vocalist tackling tunes from varied artists including unsettled folkie Tim Hardin and Grammy Award winner Booker T. Jones. “But this one went pretty easily y'know, I had the songs in mind for a while and I knew what I wanted it to sound like so it went pretty smoothly.

As far as admitting to being in a better place personally, though, Lanegan is at pains to show his cards. “Um, well, I don't recall being in a particularly bad place when I made that record, nor am I now. I'm happy to say that both periods of time are stress-free – but thanks for asking,” he dryly mocks. “[But] I don't know, man. I'm just always trying to get to the heart of a song really, whether I wrote it or somebody else did; to sing it in a way that's convincing and I've gotta sort of be inside of it. And hopefully I did that.”

In promotional press for Imitations, it's mentioned that Lanegan wanted to create an album that gave off the same feelings that ran through him when he listened to his parent's records as a child in the late '60s and early '70s. However, when asked to expand on the statement, he's quick to clarify where he was coming from exactly.

“Maybe I didn't put that in the right context. I think what I meant to say was that I wanted to make a record that had the same... well, when I said feeling, had the same feeling of those records, not a record that made me feel the way those records felt – do you get the difference?” he pokes before chuckling again to release the tension.

So maybe that's where the foundation for Lanegan's versatile career stems from? Maybe not. Clearly it's foolish to assume anything of him; simply listen closely to the music and try and read between the lines.