The Last Days of December

‘no you to be found’

The initial session that David Sylvian and Dai Fujikura held with musicians from the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) in New York yielded material for their first-released collaboration, ‘Five Lines’, together with string parts that were intended for incorporation into Manafon but were ultimately omitted from that album’s mixes. By the time of the second session with ICE, there was an agreed vision for a project based around re-imaginings of the Manafon material, a number of the tracks with the benefit of Fujikura’s string arrangements (read more here).

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Small Metal Gods – Random Acts of Senseless Violence – variations

‘fascinatingly original and protean’

Died in the Wool came about in an incremental fashion,’ said David Sylvian of his 2011 double-cd set containing “variations” of tracks from 2009’s Manafon alongside a number of new pieces. ‘Wheels were unintentionally put into motion whilst I was still working on Manafon. I’d met Dai [Fujikura] in London, where he’d expressed a desire to work together. We’d continued an in-depth conversation via email regarding potential future projects. At some point it seemed like a good idea to test the water to see if we were speaking the same language.’

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