Mark Lanegan - Scraps at Midnight

On 180-gram vinyl with a digital download card, Scraps at Midnight finds Mark Lanegan in 1998 out in the desert, singing like a man counting his losses by candlelight.

His third solo album, after The Winding Sheet and Whiskey for the Holy Ghost, is often heard as the closing chapter of a loose trilogy. Lanegan was still fronting Screaming Trees at the time, but his solo work had become the place for something darker, quieter and more personal. He made it at Rancho de la Luna in Joshua Tree, co-producing with guitarist Mike Johnson.

The sound is dusty and close, built from acoustic guitars, faint keyboards and gentle percussion that leave plenty of room for that cracked, smoky baritone. Hospital Roll Call opens the record with a brief, haunted chill, and Stay, chosen as a single, is one of his most tender vocal turns. J Mascis and Tad Doyle drop in on Wheels, adding to the feel of a loose circle of friends gathered around one singular voice.

The eight-minute Because of This closes things on a slow, smouldering burn that feels like the sun coming up after a very long night.

Lanegan rarely sounded more intimate than he does here. For late nights and long drives, few records keep better company.