A collaboration between fellow fringe dwellers Daniel Johnston and Mark Linkous seems like it should be a match made in twisted outsider-pop heaven. After all, the Sparklehorse leader is obviously a huge fan of Johnston's volatile but vulnerable music; aside from its influence coloring most of Sparklehorse's fragile, darkly innocent output, Linkous has gone as far as to put a cover of Johnston's "Hey Joe" on his best album, Good Morning Spider. It may be because of this reverence that producer/arranger Linkous gives Fear Yourself such a clean production that it almost sounds like Linkous is trying to protect the songs -- or their creator -- from some of their more dangerous or unpredictable impulses. Fear Yourself's opening song, "Now," gradually moves from four-track grit to the rest of the album's sheen, a la Dorothy leaving Kansas for Oz. Some of the less-glossy tracks, such as the brooding but optimistic "Must" and the cute "Fish," and more kinetic numbers, like "Mountain Top" and "Love Not Dead," manage to escape the feeling that characterizes most of Fear Yourself's softer songs (with the notable exception of "Wish"). ~ Heather Phares

Rovi