With the new third season of David Lynch’s mystery series set to begin on Showtime on May 21, the road back to Twin Peaks gets shorter every day. Now the actor we know best as Agent Cooper—with apologies to Portlandia’s mayor—has a hearty batch of mostly classic-rock tunes for your trip.While the title of Kyle MacLachlan’s “Coffeetime” may refer to the show’s G-man hero and his predilection for “a damn fine cup of coffee”—served with the Double R Diner’s cherry pie, of course—the selection is better suited to cans of Bud with the boys in a big way, thanks to the predominance of FM rock staples by the Stones, Led Zeppelin, and Cream.That may disappoint Lynch devotees who prefer gentler sounds more akin to the placid synths of Angelo Badalamenti’s scores for the director. Nor is there anything along the lines of the filmmaker’s own go-to musical cues: dreamy ‘50s pop like Roy Orbison’s “In Dreams” in Blue Velvet, or industrial nightmares like the Rammstein tracks in Lost Highway. Instead, MacLachlan sticks with his flavor profile of “‘60s/’70s heavy,” which means the playlist could be the soundtrack-for-kicking-back of any easy-going 58-year-old dude aside from a few more personal quirks.The preponderance of Doors songs is only natural for the actor who played Ray Manzarek in Oliver Stone’s 1991 gonzo biopic. Meanwhile, the spate of grunge faves befits a proud native of Washington State. Then there’s the more mysterious plethora of Jethro Tull deep cuts. Apparently, MacLachlan loves Ian Anderson’s raggedy prog-folk travelers so much, he once lobbied his wife to name their son Jethro. Luckily for his marriage, good sense prevailed, but you have to hope MacLachlan found a way to get some Tull into the new chapter of Agent Cooper’s saga. After all, being trapped in the Black Lodge for 25 years gives a guy plenty of time for flute practice.
