Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan's "You Won't Let Me Down Again" Is as Close to Perfect As We've Heard in 2010

Artist: Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan
Track: "You Won't Let Me Down Again"
Album: Hawk
Label: Vanguard
Release Date: August 24; It's Out
Rating (Skip, Stream, or Buy): Buy
Local Show: Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan play Neumos on Tuesday, Oct. 26
Full Review: Paige Richmond has a review of the whole thing.

In the most disappointing corners of popular music, a single is a passably listenable track intended to move a CD of mediocrity. In the case of "You Won't Let Me Down Again," the single serves as a tidy encapsulation of feat that Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan have pulled off on their third album, Hawk.

Comforting and familiar while at the same time fresh and disturbing--is it meant to be threatening or reassuring?--"You Won't Let Me Down Again," juxtaposes Campbell's sweetness and Lanegan's ominous growl seamlessly. It's steeped in highway country, but in the hands of Lanegan it carries a weight transcends all modern alt-country flavorings.

Like Hawk itself, "You Won't Let Me Down Again," demonstrates the best-case scenario at the intersection of tastes and genres, strengths and subtleties, humility and hubris.