Author: thevistablogger

The Devil’s Own

‘underlying tension, doubt, nervousness’

Gone to Earth was released in September 1986, well over two years after David Sylvian’s debut solo LP, Brilliant Trees. Customary press interviews coincided with the release of the double album and were published in September and October that year. A few months later, I was scanning the magazine racks in WH Smith at a London railway station, hungry for news of my favourite musicians, and I remember my surprise at spotting a photograph of Sylvian on the cover of Sound on Sound magazine. Sure enough, within the pages of the March 1987 edition was to be found a new interview with Sylvian undertaken by respected music journalist, Mark Prendergast.

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Forbidden Colours

‘sonically it was incredible’

When it came to making casting decisions for Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, there was no doubt that Nagisa Ōshima took an unconventional approach. ‘Unlike most directors, I find it frustrating to have to cast only actors,’ he later declared. ‘I’m always on the look out for people from a different field…I simply don’t like established methods. There are six billion people on this planet, but I’m supposed to choose someone after looking through just twenty or thirty actors’ portraits. I’ve felt the same way since the beginning of my film career. And if I do things differently, perhaps I can stretch the horizons of my work. It’s something I think about every time I make a film.’

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Cherry Blossoms Fall – The Cicada’s Song

‘universal and timeless themes’

Upon This Fleeting Dream featuring David Sylvian and Kazuko Hohki is the fourth album from Twinkle³, the trio of Clive Bell, David Ross and Richard Scott. Their debut, Let’s Make a Solar System, was released back in 2009. ‘Twinkle³ started as a studio-based project for Richard and myself,’ David Ross told me. ‘At that time Richard was already immersed in electronic music and had a recording studio, while I was just finding ways in.

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If I Leave No Trace – Empty Handed

‘visceral and compelling’

Early on the Twinkle³ album featuring David Sylvian and Kazuko Hohki, Upon This Fleeting Dream, a torrent of fizzing electronic sound tears from one speaker to another, followed by what seems to be the crackle of a spark leaping between contacts. Synthetic beeps and the fragments of a beat escape from a swirling mix. Soaking in the sounds that accompany Sylvian and Hohki’s readings of ancient Japanese poetry, it’s evident there is something distinctive happening in how synthesisers are deployed.

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Sunlight Seen Through Towering Trees

‘harmony between you and your environment’

A double album comprising a disc of vocal tracks accompanied by another of instrumental cuts was certainly an unusual proposition for a mid-’80s release from a pop artist with chart potential. Early in the genesis of the follow-up album to Brilliant Trees, Sylvian had toyed with releasing the first three vocal tracks he had written backed with ‘Steel Cathedrals’, or perhaps as part of a package with Words with the Shaman. Ultimately those instrumentals would see standalone release in video and EP form respectively, but when Gone to Earth eventually reached us it was in anything but a conventional format.

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