thevistablogger

The Librarian

Rhythm philosophy

From time to time an announcement comes out of the blue, heralding new music that will be available in just a matter of weeks. So it was in April 2005, when davidsylvian.com announced that a new record was available for pre-order. ‘The release is a new 12″ vinyl single featuring the work of two acclaimed musicians – Burnt Friedman and Jaki Liebezeit. This 12″ release features a mix of one of the tracks from the very exciting forthcoming project that David Sylvian and Steve Jansen have been working on along with Burnt Friedman. The vinyl features three tracks by Burnt Friedman and Jaki Liebezeit, one of which is entitled ‘The Librarian’ which was co-written by and features vocals from David. Though this is a different mix to the one that will appear on the Sylvian/Jansen/Friedman album, it provides a hint of what to expect from the new record which is due later this year on samadhisound.’

It would be another six months before the Nine Horses album would surface. In the meantime, there was this unexpected collaboration to enjoy and time to explore the music of these new musical partners. Ex-Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit was a familiar name from the ambient work with Holger Czukay earlier in Sylvian’s career, but it was immediately evident that Jaki’s contribution was much more pivotal here. Indeed, his assured rhythms were what really hit me as I listened to the ‘mini-lp’ for the first few times. The percussion was… well, a bit weird, unlike anything I’d experienced before. I found it strangely unsettling. Continue reading “The Librarian”

Saffron Laudanum

Melting music into new

It’s 2011 and audience members at the Agder Theatre, Kristiansand, Norway rush from the main auditorium to a dark basement room where plain benches are set out to accommodate as many people as possible in this smaller space. In dim light the deep shimmering drone of the music begins. David Sylvian’s distinctive reading voice declares:

‘matter
in the layers between
crushed in time

matter
what they left behind
can be read on an arrowhead’ Continue reading “Saffron Laudanum”

Red Guitar

‘my vice and my virtue’

Sat in the Reading Room for Rare Books and Music at the British Library in London, I don the headphones provided. I’ve come to this hushed space to listen to a conversation recorded with photographer Angus McBean in 1989, just months before his passing. Hearing the excited tones of the sprightly octogenarian it’s impossible not to be caught up in his enthusiasm for life and his sheer joy at recounting tales from a career in which he captured portraits of the stars of stage, screen and literary arts – Audrey Hepburn, Dame Peggy Ashcroft, Ivor Novello, Vivien Leigh, the Beatles, Sir Ralph Richardson, Dame Margot Fonteyn, T.S. Eliot, Benjamin Britten, the list is truly incredible. If a glint in the eye can be caught on audio tape then surely it is captured here. It’s the same playful energy that comes over in the settings created for his subjects, influenced as they were by his early career as a mask-maker and scenery designer for stage productions and by the impact of the Surrealist movement. Continue reading “Red Guitar”

Manafon

‘A man out of time’

Manafon. Manafon? What could it mean? Scurrying to a search engine it was soon discovered that David Sylvian’s new album was named after a small rural community located in the hills of Montgomeryshire, the northern part of the Welsh county of Powys. But that just raised more questions! Why?! Continue reading “Manafon”

Taking Islands in Africa

‘a masterclass in synth programming’

In March 1980 Japan headed for the country of their band-name, embarking on a tour to support the Quiet Life album. Mick Karn later recalled how their travel was, ‘more often than not, by Shinkansen, the luxuriously smooth bullet train.. ..It was on one such journey I heard a cassette that was being circulated amongst the band, on my Walkman, the latest invention from Sony. Electronic music was the future, Kraftwerk were already a favourite, but there was something different about this band. YMO were the perfect accompaniment to the speeding scenery outside, it was one of those moments when music and visuals became one, quite by accident, and somehow captured the very spirit of Japan. We couldn’t believe that no-one had heard of them abroad.’ (2009) Continue reading “Taking Islands in Africa”