As album pitches go, “Mark Lanegan goes easy listening” is one of the more unlikely, given the former Screaming Trees frontman’s image as a grizzled loner singing songs of sin and guilt. But, remarkably enough, Imitations finds him covering songs by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin and Andy Williams, with Lanegan – in one of the more unlikely cultural moments of 2013 – even doffing the cap to Perry Como in the accompanying press blurb.
These performers were childhood favourites of Lanegan and his family, and a bit like Johnny Cash, the singer has a flair for locating the heart of darkness in some seemingly superficial songs, with his cover of Nancy Sinatra’s Bond tune ‘You Only Live Twice’, for example, stripping away the bombastic arrangement to reveal the track’s melancholic undertones. At times – such as on his covers of ‘Mack The Knife’ and the cosy country tune ‘She’s Gone’ – the juxtaposition of singer and material is almost comical. Indeed, it’s hard to avoid the mental image of the perpetually morose Lanegan crooning the songs whilst wearing a tux and nursing a cocktail.
Although I’ve never really been a huge fan of Lanegan’s output, either as a solo artist or with the Screaming Trees, he undeniably has a powerful, cigarettes and whiskey voice, and his singing throughout Imitations is top notch. Overall, however, the album doesn’t sustain, with several of the tunes failing to attain lift-off. Still, the singer’s next move should be interesting. “Mark Lanegan Sings Harry Belafonte,” perhaps?

Key Track: 'Mack The Knife'