David Lynch, Chrysta Bell to appear at the Bootleg

Forget cinema, David Lynch’s current passion is artist development. On Aug. 2, Lynch will step into his new role as a master of ceremonies, hosting a concert from Chrysta Bell, whose 2011 debut CD the filmmaker-musician produced.

Even Lynch fans ignorant of Bell’s full-length “This Train” are likely already familiar with her work. Bell and Lynch composed the song “Polish Poem” for the director’s most-recent full-length feature, the mysterious and experimental 2006 film “Inland Empire.”

Tickets for the Aug. 2 show at the Bootleg Theater are $10 and are on sale now. “Swing With Me,” a seething, 7-minute-plus song that walks the line between treacherous and teasing, recalling the works of both Portishead and Chris Isaak, is presented below.

A bio plays up Bell’s haunting, bygone-era qualities, noting that the artist “certainly fits Lynch’s vision of the femme fatale archetype.” But if ever there were a moment for Bell, this would seem to be it. Earlier this year, Lana Del Rey briefly held the role as the music media’s object of affection, and she owned a look and style that seemed ripped from a Lynch film.

Bell’s songs take their time, placing the emphasis on mood. Instruments are used to color and shade, rhythms are designed to ensnare, and Bell’s voice always sounds as if it’s emerging from smoke. Previously, the San Francisco-based artist fronted swing revivalists 8½ Souvenirs.

Lynch has described her thusly: “The first time I saw her perform, I thought she was like an alien. The most beautiful alien ever.”

So while fans wait for Lynch to take on a new film, they may have to make do with a musician who could be a character in one. And it may be a long wait. “I haven’t gotten the big idea,” he told sister blog Movies Now earlier this summer. “I’ve got some fragments that are coming, but not the big idea ... If I got an idea that I fell in love with, I’d go to work tomorrow. I just haven’t.”

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