thevistablogger

Still Life in Mobile Homes

‘the importance of individual personality’

The opening track to Side 2 of Japan’s iconic final studio album, Tin Drum, sequenced between the China-influenced ‘Canton’ and ‘Visions of China’, stands alone in the construction of its rhythm track, pointing forward to new ways of working for the band’s drummer, Steve Jansen. ‘Still Life in Mobile Homes’, Steve said, was ‘the only drum track recorded piecemeal on that album.’ (2015)

Asked on his blog site, sleepyard, how Mick Karn and he put together the bass and drums for this particular song, Jansen explained, ‘In general the rhythm part would lead Mick to syncopate his notation to fall on certain beats and we would then work closely on arranging various changes and details. In other examples (such as ‘Sons Of Pioneers’), Mick had written the bass part without a drum pattern and I had to find something suitable. ‘Still Life In Mobile Homes’ is particularly rigid between the bass and drums and this was inspired by technology that was emerging at the time whereby computerised rhythm sections were locked in sync.’ (2017)

I Measure Every Grief I Meet

‘a piercing Comfort it affords’

I have written before on this site about the impact of attending the Punkt festival in Kristiansand, Norway, for the first time in 2011, drawn there by David Sylvian’s involvement as Artist in Residence. There were so many first experiences, hearing musicians play live whose work I have subsequently taken time to explore and which I have found to be tremendously enriching. On the opening evening alone there was Arve Henriksen, John Tilbury, Evan Parker, Sidsel Endresen and Philip Jeck. All gave performances in an art gallery surrounded by David Sylvian and Atsushi Fukui’s installation Uncommon Deities. Recorded readings by Sylvian and live recitations of the Norwegian originals by both Paal-Helge Haugen and Nils Christian Moe-Repstad were interspersed with the music, Sylvian observing proceedings from the sound desk at the rear of the space. What a line up to have in one room.

World Citizen – The Only Daughter (remixed by Ryoji Ikeda)

elaborating upon the emotional heart of the work

Early in January this year I made my way along The Strand in central London to 180 Studios, very much within my old stomping ground as a mid-80s student. Entering the basement down the black-walled staircase, I was led to a darkened space where bean bags were laid out on the ground in a circle, each visitor invited to recline and turn their attention to the ceiling above, which was in fact taken up by a huge LED screen.

Nostalgia

painting an audio picture

When the sessions for Brilliant Trees reconvened in London, following the initial gathering at Hansa Tonstudio in Berlin, the location was JAM studios situated in Tollington Park, North London. Joining co-producer Steve Nye for this stint was engineer Peter Williams. ‘JAM was owned by two brothers, the Nordmarks, Swedes, and their sister Lena ran the whole place. It was the old Decca 4 studio and became JAM. We used that a lot because it was a reasonable price, the quality of the equipment was good, and so we did a number of things there,’ Peter told me. ‘JAM, from memory, was a Harrison desk, Studer 24 track and Studer ½” 30 inch per second mastering, and a pair of big Urei speakers, 513s or whatever they are called, a bunch of amps etc.’

Bringing Down the Light

‘revelation’

The months before Sylvian/Fripp first stepped into the public gaze were dominated for Robert Fripp by a dispute with his management company, EG. ‘From April ’91 to March ’92, when I first played in Japan with David Sylvian and Trey Gunn, that was virtually full time, my life. Miserable. I’m dying…No artist can stand and fight something like this, because you give up two or three years of your career, at the least. It brought me close to bankruptcy, because of instead of working, I spent a year purely dealing with it.’

REPRESS OF COLOURED VINYLS

OUT NOW FROM LUCRECIA DALT feat. DAVID SYLVIAN

Lucrecia’s new album A Danger to Ourselves is out now. All tracks produced by Lucrecia Dalt & David Sylvian, mixed by David Sylvian.

Sylvian also contributes vocal and feedback guitar to ‘Cosa Rara’ and electric guitar solo for ‘Covenstead Blues’:

Second edition repress of ‘Cosa Rara (feat. David Sylvian)’ with alternative artwork. Note that this vinyl also contains an extended mix of the ‘dopamine dub’ by Matias Aguayo, featuring David Sylvian (i.e. a different version from the first single release):

UPDATES

Further information sometimes comes to light after an article is published. The following pieces have recently been updated with new material:

March 2026
A Fire in the Forest – added quote from David Sylvian about the imagery of the forest fire.
p:Machinery – added quote from Holly Johnson about being around the studio with Propaganda and David Sylvian.
The Ink in the Well – added quote from Anton Corbijn about the video.
Red Guitar – added quote from engineer Peter Williams about introducing Mark Isham to the sessions and recording him for Brilliant Trees. Also added quote from Anton Corbijn about the video.