David Lynch takes the mike

Lynch has made music — and sound, in general — a cornerstone of his work since the beginning of his career, and he’s even dabbled in it quietly on the side with composer Angelo Badalamenti, a longtime collaborator. Out of nowhere, the 64-year-old director recently stepped into the spotlight with a pair of his own songs on a small British indie label, Sunday Best Recordings.

Featuring Lynch’s heavily processed vocals, the tracks couldn’t be more different. “Good Day Today’’ is Lynch’s idea of dance music, a stuttering slice of electro-pop you’d likely hear blaring from a club in Ibiza. Meanwhile, “I Know’’ hits closer to home: a murky blues dirge that’s as hallucinatory as Lynch’s finest moments on celluloid. In late January, the two new songs will be remixed by various artists and released as an album.

On the phone from Los Angeles, Lynch recently talked to the Globe about his taste in music, the importance of his film’s soundtracks, and why you’ll never see him coming to a rock club near you.

Q. The front of your website now says “David Lynch Music Company.’’ It sounds like you’re getting serious about making music.

A. Well, this sort of happened by accident, but I’m building a site that will be primarily music. I don’t know when it’ll be up, probably January.

Q. What will the site include?

A. I’ve got an album with Angelo Badalamenti called “Thought Gang.’’ I’m working with a girl named Chrysta Bell on her album, and I’m working with Big Dean Hurley in the studio. He’s an engineer, and he and I made these new songs that you heard.

Q. You’re now on a record label and have a music agent. Is a tour bus in your future?

A. That isn’t going to happen.

Q. When did you get interested in making music?

A. Working with Angelo, I always say, is what brought me into the world of music. I always wanted a studio to experiment with sound for film. In experimenting, it would veer off into more musical sounds and then music.

Q. So there weren’t any late-night jam sessions with Peter Wolf when you guys were roommates in Boston?

A. [Laughs.] I was just thinking about that since you’re in Boston. Peter and I were studying painting at [the School of the Museum of Fine Arts], but he was playing music night and day. That guy probably started feeding the thought of music in my head back then.

Q. Peter’s a voracious music listener, so that’s not surprising.

A. Voracious doesn’t do it justice for what he is.

Q. Were you ever intimidated to make music since you’re not technically trained?

A. Well, I played the trumpet, so I could read music. But I quit because they made you march in the football marching band. I’m not a musician, but I love to play music.

Q. I’m familiar with your previous songs, but “Good Day Today’’ was a bit of a shock. It’s so upbeat and tailor-made for the dance floor. I’m used to reaching for the bourbon when I hear your music.

A. [Laughs.] Now you need some orange juice.

Q. Could you imagine either of these new tracks in one of your films?

A. You know, if the scene came along that it married to, you bet. And that’s the trick. You can love music, but if it doesn’t marry to the picture, it can’t go in.

Q. Have there ever been singers or songs that have inspired a particular plotline or maybe just a fleeting moment in your films?

A. Oh, yeah. “Song to the Siren,’’ by This Mortal Coil. “In Dreams’’ changed things in “Blue Velvet.’’ When you listen to music, sometimes it’s just packed with visuals and ideas for cinema. So when that happens, that piece of music becomes very important and you listen to it while you write. Mostly, music comes after the shooting.

Q. Rebekah del Río singing “Crying’’ in Spanish [“Llorando’’] feels like such a crucial scene in “Mulholland Drive.’’

A. She was supposed to just sing a cappella in front of me as we had coffee in the studio. That was it. We had the microphone on, and her little a cappella thing was recorded, and that’s exactly what went into the film. She sang five minutes off the street.

Q. How does music challenge you in a way that filmmaking doesn’t?

A. It’s all the same, in a way. It’s so beautiful, these different worlds and mediums. You can get lost in there and go out on a dream in all the mediums.

Q. How would you describe your taste in music?

A. My taste? I like what Dean [Hurley] and I call modern blues. So the dance record was a little bit of a surprise, but I like it and I will probably experiment with that more.

Q. Is “Good Day Today’’ the kind of song you’d dance to in a bar?

A. Yeah, if I got drunk enough.

Q. How do you discover new music?

A. I listen to KCRW [an eclectic radio station broadcast from Santa Monica, Calif.]. I’ve discovered a girl named Lissie, so that was a good find. I like Lissie when she plays live. I don’t like it so much when it’s too overproduced. She’s got the stuff — no two ways about it. If she gets the right material, she’ll be unstoppable.

Q. Do you like to sing?

A. No. What I like is to try to sing and get the feel, and then there are so many ways to manipulate the voice and tweak it. The voice itself is a point of departure. It’s more like a feel or a sound, and you treat it like an instrument.

Q. Any ambitions to tour live?

A. No. It’s too much. I can play the first thing, but I can’t play it again. It would be a nightmare.

Q. You could lip-synch like Rebekah del Río does in “Mulholland Drive.’’

A. Yeah, I guess I could get a back-up band and then just lip-synch.

Q. In an imaginary world where you toured, who would you pick for your opening act, dead or alive?

A. Who would open for me? I love so many groups, but it should be the reverse: Who would I open for?

James Reed can be reached at jreed@globe.com.