Nine Horses - Vista

Wonderful World

‘how beautiful life is’

The US leg of the Everything and Nothing tour wound to a close with a show at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles on 14 May 2002. It wasn’t long before David Sylvian’s attention turned towards new work after an extended period compiling and completing material from the preceding 20 years, firstly for the excellent vocal cd set which gave the tour its name and then for its instrumental companion, Camphor, which came out a couple of weeks after the LA gig.

Wasn’t I Joe? – I’m Too Mad to Let You Know (Sign the Papers)

‘the ghosts of who we used to be’

The news that David Sylvian would be touring the Blemish album came as a complete surprise to me. Live performance had often been decried by the singer as a far less fulfilling activity than time in studio, albeit his early ’90s work with Robert Fripp hread shifted this perspective somewhat. The 2001/2002 Everything and Nothing shows were still recent memories and with the move away from a major label, the financing required to make touring viable seemed a remote possibility – it had been borderline before with losses accumulated from the US shows in 2002.

Snow Borne Sorrow – Gone from the Landscape

‘a glorious piece of composition’

The final chapter of David Sylvian’s second volumesample of lyrics and poetry, Trophies II, contains a selection of compositions conceived as poems rather than words to be sung to music. The final piece is entitled ‘Gone from the Landscape’, and I remember how it pulled me up short when I read it for the first time. This was, after all, a volume published early in 1999 and containing the lyrics to Dead Bees on a Cake, undoubtedly some of the most joyful Sylvian has ever penned. Of course, the darkness is always lurking close to the surface, but here at the end of the book a shadow is cast heavy:

Atom and Cell

‘a small seed that burrowed its way into my mind’

Manhattan, 10th September 2001. ‘That’s where the story starts,’ David Sylvian confirmed to the host of BBC Radio 3’s Mixing It programme. ‘That’s because I was in New York the night before the attack took place. I was there with my wife and family, and Ingrid turned around to me and said, “There’s a really ominous feel in the city tonight, you know, that something awful is going to happen.”’

The Banality of Evil

‘a more unpredictable approach’

Robert Fripp’s online diary, 20th October 2004:
‘Today’s work in London is a recording session for David Sylvian’s new solo album. Eden Studios is conveniently just around the corner from the bijou Chateau de Petite Chevalle [an affectionate reference to the Willcox/Fripp residence in Chiswick, just north of the Thames in London].

Today’s session: for me, a treat. David & his brother Steve were both waiting when I arrived…’

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):