SXSW 2012 Records

Chrysta Bell

This Train, written and produced by film director David Lynch for a muse 30 years his junior, sounds a lot like the soundtrack to one of his movies. In fact the "solo" debut from Chrysta Bell, former chanteuse of Austin's Django (Reinhardt) jazzy 8½ Souvenirs, is the result of 13 years' collaboration between Lynch and the onetime local singer. Fans of Twin Peaks will recognize the long, contemplative notes that stretch out for miles in the title track and in "Angel Star." "Swing With Me" smolders with a Portishead-style sensuality, while the gritty "Real Love" is similarly erotic. Any variation between songs is negligible, as all 11 tracks share a decidedly Lynchian aesthetic, and while Bell's a beautiful woman with a deeply lovely singing voice, there's something deeply icky about her first solo venture bearing the fingerprints of a much-older man, right down to the defaced photograph of her on the cover. (Fri., 10:15pm, 18th Floor at Hilton Garden Inn)