Morphine, whose singer/songwriter Mark Sandman died of a heart attack in July, released its latest and final CD “The Night” on Feb. 1, a musical endeavor that would make Sandman proud.The album, recorded over the course of two years in Sandman’s Hi-N-Dry studio, was delivered to Dreamworks Records shortly before the death of Sandman. Sandman died on stage from a massive heart attack in Italy.A type of music Morphine describes as “low-rock” is a culmination of rock and deep jazz influences with a lot of brass and some exotic instruments including an oud, which is a Middle Eastern stringed instrument.The album keeps the “low-rock” theme throughout, but this doesn’t mean the songs all sound the same. Each song has an individual feel with the constant changing of instruments from song to song. Sandman also used an interesting process of layering the different sounds of the separate instruments, so the combined sound was completely different from anything one could create alone. A perfect example of this is found in the track “A Good Woman is Hard to Find.”Another interesting aspect of the music is the striking voice of Sandman, it’s almost like a masculine Shirley Manson of Garbage.An all original album, this is probably the best music Morphine has ever created and is a great example of the musical and production talents of Sandman.Most of the songs uphold a rather quick-paced sound, but on the track “Rope on Fire,” Sandman creates a slower sound. This time the lyrics and vocals bear a strong resemblance to Bruce Springsteen.Sandman also incorporated the music of friends and other musicians. The guest artists included on the album are a cellist, a bassist, the oud player and virtuoso organ. Sandman also used a couple of friends for back-up vocals. The record was dedicated to Sandman saying, “We are grateful for the time we had with you and the music you left with us. We love you, Mark. We’re closer to you than we seem.”