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The great artist, musician, and director David Lynch passed away in January this year at the age of 78. The last few months have seen a vast outpouring of love for Lynch and his groundbreaking work. Many of his fans, friends, and collaborators will be meeting in London at the end of the month for A Gathering of the Angels, a new two-day festival – planned before his passing – dedicated to celebrating all things Lynchian.
Musician and actress Chrystabell starred in 2017's Twin Peaks: The Return as FBI agent Tammy Preston, and collaborated closely with Lynch on music for more than a decade. She will be at the event to perform a new show, The Spirit Lamp: The Music of David Lynch & Chrystabell.
Let's start at the beginning. How did you come to first meet and work with David?
My manager had the idea that my best chance [as a performer] was to get into a situation where I could be on television or in a film. He managed to connect me with Brian Loucks, who is an agent who has this reputation as the person who blends the worlds of film and music. He's very good at his job and very intuitive. It was Brian who introduced David to Rebekah Del Rio [who memorably appears in Mulholland Drive], Karen O, Lykke Li, all of the voices that David would end up creating music with.
So Brian connected me with David and it just happened to be that I got 15 minutes with this guy who was the portal. There were other elements, like some kind of alchemical process had to happen for you to even get to his studio, but I did, and we connected musically. I was nervous and hopeful, but I realized upon meeting him that he wanted it to work out with me as much as I did with him. And then he gave me this big hug.
And that led to you working together on your first solo album, This Train?
At that point, we didn't get to work together, even though we really wanted to. I was signed to a major record deal and they were unwilling to let me work with David. I was looking for a producer and for my musical counterpart, and I felt like I found it in David, so to not be able to work with him was really challenging. But anyway, several years passed, I was untangled from the record label, and Brian Loucks saw David at a party and David said, "Tell me about that girl, Chrystabell. Is she out of her contract?" So Brian called me, and by that time I was out of my contract, and I began the process of traveling back and forth to Los Angeles to work with David on what would eventually become This Train.
That was the start of a musical collaboration that lasted more than a decade and led to last year's album, Cellophane Memories. Was it just the two of you in the studio?
For This Train and [2016 EP] Somewhere in the Nowhere, initially, John Neff was our engineer, and then it was Dean Hurley. And Dean... heart of gold. The man is so talented and spoke Lynch as well as David! I mean, it was practically telepathic between them. Dean would be there to technically execute what David and I were kind of dreamily expressing.
But all of us together was what was necessary to bring the music into existence. And then, whatever else came in on, for instance, 'Polish Poem' [which memorably features in Lynch's 2006 film Inland Empire]. That was David, John Neff at the board, and me in the booth. And then something else came and used me as an instrument. I would say that was the case for all of the music with me and David, but for that song that was definitely the case. There was someone else there.
In between Somewhere in the Nowhere and Cellophane Memories, David cast you in Twin Peaks: The Return as FBI Agent Tammy Preston. What was that experience like?
So there's the experience that you have before it's happening; when it's happening; when it's done; when it comes out and all of the reactions [to the show] and getting through all of that; and then having some perspective. I went from utter shock and disbelief that I would be a part of it and that I was acting and not singing – I thought that was ludicrous! – to being able to hold the experience and the, I don't want to say the honor, but somehow, destiny has provided this opportunity. David believes that I can do this thing, and so I can. And then to be able to feel oneself expand beyond what one considered one's limitations in such circumstances was a gift beyond measure.
How different was it working with David on a TV show as one of the actors compared to your relationship as musical collaborators?
With the music, it's just Dean at the board and me and David doing our conference. He's like, "More of this, less of that." You're caught in that moment and it's very intimate. And even though David is able to somehow create that intimacy on a set with a thousand people, it's still different, right? There's this machine that's running with all of these brilliant humans that are completely focused and with the same goal and set intention, and David's this dynamic, creative explosion in the middle.
It's more like you're witnessing it, and then your part is happening. You're a part of something, and that's an exquisite, beautiful feeling. David is the figurehead; he's the captain, and he's guiding everyone, so the energy is dispersed, whereas in the studio, it's just the two of us. But the way he expresses the direction and holds space as the director, that is the same because it's coming from the same place. That's just another one of his art abilities, the communication and the imbuing of the confidence that you can do it. The energy that he's emitting and receiving. It's like he's an antenna, and the frequency that he is bringing in is pristine.
I think that speaks to something you mentioned a minute ago, about almost channelling something other while you were working together.
I think David brings in people who can help make a space for that. There is this understanding that there is an opportunity for the unknown and the mystical to be part of the experience. Because you can have some productions with the very best people and the smoothest organization, all of the pieces of the puzzle, but it doesn't have the thing. But David always makes ample space for the magic to come through. And I think he brings people in who are also really willing to be open to that. I feel like, that's everything he's done, but Twin Peaks: The Return is teeming with these impossible things.
Did you ever sit and watch the show with David?
David and I watched Twin Peaks: The Return together on several occasions. To come full circle to that, after all of the experiences of the before, the during, the right after. To watch it and almost to forget all of that, to just enjoy it together… Twin Peaks: The Return is the gift that just keeps giving. It's endless.
Chrystabell will perform her show, The Spirit Lamp, at A Gathering of the Angels in London on Saturday, September 27. The event encompasses the full weekend of September 27 and 28 and features a whole host of Lynchian special guests. Tickets are available now at the link above.
