David Sylvian S/D

well true but the album is better than the title

they really balance out the duffers here like "Krishna Blue"

Totally disagree there. I'm a massive fan of everything Sylvian did & rank Krishna Blue as one of his very best songs.

I too think KB is one of his best, but really, not much sense in personal taste battles anyway. A good album is a good album. You may like one song more than another, but if you’ve lived long enough with it, one song leads to another there, so all will be good in the end.

I love the title, I think it’s terrific and suits the music to a T, pretty much as is always the case with Sylvian. He explained why he chose it well enough in period interviews some 20 years ago.
When the cd first came out, I was sorely disappointed - it took years to come around on it. I remember back then I thought the title and the original cover were the best things about it, and that they deserved better music.

Darkest Dreaming is one of his very best songs.

― akm,

Nice to see you single out Darkest Dreaming. Sometimes I think it might be my favourite song he's ever recorded, including Japan.

one thing to note though is that this RSD pressing is fucked, there are no fill issues on many of them (including my side 2). don't know if universal will take them back or not, but considering I paid thirtyfive pounds for it I hope so.

I remember back then I thought the title and the original cover were the best things about it, and that they deserved better music.

It's a constant ongoing argument I have with myself what I think David Sylvian's best is. The choice always changes, but the three things that are always in consideration are: Secrets of the Beehive, Rain Tree Crow, and Dead Bees on a Cake.

beehive vs gone to earth has been the eternal internal argument for me

i think "a fire in the forest" out-darkest-dreamings "darkest dreaming" for me

I sometimes think of Rain Tree Crow as Sylvian's attempt to make Laughing Stock.

"i think "a fire in the forest" out-darkest-dreamings "darkest dreaming" for me"

yeah those are the two closers I was thinking of. sublime.

I sometimes think of Rain Tree Crow as Sylvian's attempt to make Laughing Stock.

It was released a few months before Laughing Stock though. I think of it as more DS bringing his improv/chance approach from the Czukay sessions into his old band and seeing where that went. With a few gorgeous, conventionally constructed songs in there too.

to me it sounds much more like music in between ambient and world in the vein of what eno, byrne, gabriel, hassell etc. were doing in the 80s. "laughing stock" is a completely different beast i think. it has got this holy & spiritual vibe which i do not feel in "rain tree crow".

Huh. I bought RTC on release but only got into LS a few years later - shows what I know!
And yeah I remember the press and the liner notes being big on the improvised nature of the sessions. A pretty interesting way to reform a band, can't think of anyone else who did it that way.
And agreed, Alex, LS is the vision of a seer, whereas RTC is more abstract musings. Sylvian has always been exquisitely emotionally guarded, part of the allure I guess.

Still think the albums are in the same sonic territory, albeit polished for RTC and raw for LS.

https://www.groenland.com/product/david-sylvian-holger-czukay-plight-premonition-flux-mutability-2lp/

He's been doing his first interviews since 2012 or so lately for the Czukay reissue.
A long three-pager was just posted in a Japan facebook group from Electronic Sound mag. Plus, something in this month's Uncut too.

Also, his website's GDPR email could possibly refer to new music this year, if you're feeling especially optimistic. Just as likely it means nothing though!

"After what has been a brief break davidsylvian.com is once again updated and fully functional. There’ll be exciting news coming from the site throughout the year.
We would like to stay in touch with you regarding all new releases/rereleases, news and publications by, or concerning, David Sylvian."

His Twitter feed is intriguing.

i am excite

there was somethign posted to the japan/sylvian FB group this morning and then swifly deleted, didn't catch what it was but it was a red image with something about news coming about something this year?

Yeah. The red image is from the email that went out today. Text is in my post above.

His twitter feed is great. How else would you find out he's buddies with Anton Newcombe!

Found a pristine copy of the reissued Alchemy CD at Half-Price books yesterday, score. Based on the person upthread who hates it also hating the instrumental sides of Gone to Earth, which are my all-time favorite Sylvian sides, I'm guessing I'm going to like it!

You're in for a treat.

yeah that is good stuff

I'd rank most of Sylvian's instrumentals in the interesting-to-pleasant range, the exceptional ones are on Gone to Earth (and Japan records). They're a mostly more retiring than I prefer.

The few instrumentals on rain tree crow are pinnacle stuff IMO

"Red Earth" is a nice one on that record, a little more outgoing than the others.

So I've been listening to Alchemy the past couple of days and really enjoying it, but couldn't figure out why Words with the Shaman sounded so wacky... then I looked at the liner notes and oh, it's Jon Hassell! Should have guessed.

My fav tracks (predictably) are the Stigma of Childhood and Steel Cathedrals, it'd be worth the price for Stigma of Childhood alone.

By "wacky" you mean "awesome", right?

haha more like "I know this isn't David Sylvian or like Fripp or Nelson, who is doing this? (checks liner notes) ah of course, this is some Fourth World noises"

Twinkle3 ft David Sylvian and Kazuko Hohki - Upon This Fleeting Dream

https://cortizona.bandcamp.com/album/upon-this-fleeting-dream

I can't find the link now, but there's a Sylvian interview on Mary Anne Hobbs' show on 6 Music on 27/10/22.

^ https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001d5w7

Thanks, I hope the interview is available outside the UK.

I've been on a real Sylvian kick recently, especially Brilliant Trees and Gone to Earth. I've owned both for about 20 years and they still sound as fresh as the day I first heard then.

I have Secrets of the Beehive coming in the mail. Great album. (I've been on a real binge of buying cheap CDs on Discogs since vinyl prices have become ridiculous. Some great stuff out there. It was only a few bucks for the Sylvian CD and similar for the Dead Can Dance debut.)

Thanks, StanM. The link works but for some reason there's no info there. Maybe that's because I'm outside the UK. Anyway, more importantly, I'm looking forward to hearing it.

Weird - maybe this will work? -> This is the one preview track: https://cortizona.bandcamp.com/track/if-i-leave-no-trace ( https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/track=1015719844/size=large/linkcol=0084B4/notracklist=true/twittercard=true/ )

And the info/blurb there:

On ‘Upon This Fleeting Dream’ Clive Bell’s Twinkle3 embraces medieval and 16th century Japanese poems and haiku about death and saying farewell. Bell and Twnkle3, consisting of Dave Ross and Richard Scott, expand their sonic borders to unknown territory: bringing these pithy epigrams to a new Fourth World where electro-acoustic sounds glitches into an hypnagogic, if not unconscious level of fragile beauty.

The distinctive voice of David Sylvian, who reads the English version of the poems and created field recordings and the artwork for this album blends in the most organic way with the shakuhachi,Thai reed flutes and mouth organs played by Clive Bell.

The narrative voices of David Sylvian and Kazuko Hohki’s (Frank Chickens, Kahondo Style…) velvet timbre are the cornerstones of this compelling journey while the tangling and abstract rhythms transcending from Dave Ross’ modular synths and Richard Scott’s sampler and analogue electronics, unravel and unfold a mesmerizing universe with unknown dimensions and frequencies of a fleeting dream.

credits
releases October 28, 2022

Clive Bell: Shakuhachi flute, pi saw and khene mouth organ
Dave Ross: Droscillator, modular synths, various wind and string instruments
Richard Scott: Sampler, modular synths and analogue electronics
David Sylvian: Vocals, field recordings and artwork/photography
Kazuko Hohki: Japanese voice

Mastered by Gert Van Hoof at Cochlea Mastering
Cut by Dubplates & Mastering Berlin

Sleeve design and lay out by Jef Cuypers
Executive production by Philippe Cortens

No, I was referring to the BBC link.

I listened to the Hohki track. Thanks.

oops, haha - I'm not in the UK either & it says the audio should be available after Oct 27th. (I can listen to older episodes too)

Yes that's all I can see too.

Some more information about the BBC6 show via the Quietus:

Mary Anne Hobbs has announced that David Sylvian will take part in a special show on BBC 6 Music later this month, the musician's first major engagement with the media in fifteen years.

Speaking on her show today (11 October), Hobbs said: "David Sylvian has been comfortable in his own silence for the best part of 15 years, but of course there’s also a great joy in an artist surfacing after such an extended period of time to share some of their thoughts and ideas."

She revealed that Sylvian has recorded an audio diary from his home in rural New Hampshire, which will be broadcast as part of a special show titled 'Spirit Of Sylvian' on 27 October.

In addition, Hobbs said, "you'll hear artists who've influenced David, contemporary musicians that he's inspired, his own collaborations and solo work, and also some music that I would like to play to David."

Meanwhile, just to add to the air of mystery, DS handed over his Twitter account to a third party a few days ago, who then pointed out that DS hasn't lived in NH for a decade, but didn't say where he lives now. :)

"David hasn't lived in NH since 2012. Since that time he's lived in London, the Wicklow Mountains of Ireland, Berlin, and traveled all over the States as documented in his book 'ERR'. A minor detail but he's far from NH now, however, he does remain in seclusion."

I didn't know about his book.

I remember seeing pictures of the New Hampshire house and recording studio when it was being sold.

That book sold out fairly quickly. As did the limited edition print set he just did with Lance Austin Olsen and another artist.

He mentioned on Twitter to not buy the Twinkle3 or Isabelle Adjani records coming out on his account, as he wasn't that involved in either:
"if I don't post something related to a release on my timeline it's because i'm not comfortable (mis)directing ppl to projects I've barely any involvement in. all news isn't newsworthy though some think otherwise. an album stands on its own merits irrespective of my involvement"

Very much looking forward to Hobbs show!

i imagine he still maintains his instagram, or has been, which has been a lot of yuka fuji photos from the past, and a lot of photos of his daughter, which look more recent.

Interview available now:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb2_Cdeqb-M

Thanks!

wow he has quite the American accent these days huh