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David Sylvian

The David Sylvian that fronted new wave pop band Japan wore luminescent hair and glam make-up; on the cover of his solo debut, 1984's Brilliant Trees, he was stylish and refined, a gentleman popster. But the illustration that introduces 2003's Blemish sends a different message: he's bedraggled and unshaven, his far-off expression turned haunted. The new millennium has seen a more serious Sylvian, several steps further along on his musical journey and seeking new sounds to explain new traumas.

While Japan started off as one of many '70s New Romantic bands, they made an unpredictable break with their hit "Ghosts" - a searching and evocative single where spare rhythms and fleeting electronic sounds lay under Sylvian's smouldering tenor. "Writing 'Ghosts' was a turning point for me," Sylvian recalls. "So much of what we created with Japan was built upon artifice. With that song I'd felt I'd had the breakthrough I was looking for. I'd touched upon something true to myself and expressed it in a way that didn't leave me feeling overly vulnerable. In the coming years I'd forget about all notions of vulnerability, opening up the material to a greater emotional intensity. I knew that I had to find my own voice, both figuratively and literally."

On his solo records of the '80s, Sylvian's explorations in music took him from the pop-funk, stylish jazz and windswept exotica of 1984's Brilliant Trees; the ambient landscapes and epic ballads of 1986's Gone to Earth; and the romantic orchestrations of 1987's Secrets of the Beehive. His collaborators included leaders of progressive music, from jazzmen such as Mark Isham, John Taylor and Kenny Wheeler to the rock and fusion guitarists Robert Fripp, Bill Nelson, and David Torn. All three albums married strong melodies to intricate atmospheres.

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5
Album Review

David Sylvian and Holger Czukay: Plight & Premonition / Flux & Mutability

Read "Plight & Premonition / Flux & Mutability" reviewed by Geno Thackara


Names like Brian Eno or Steve Roach may most readily come to mind where classic ambient recordings are concerned, but there has never been a shortage of similarly fascinating material floating around under the radar, quietly and unobtrusively waiting to reach the right ears. The pair of late-80s LPs by David Sylvian and Holger Czukay make a defining if too-little-known example, a complementary yin and yang in immersive soundscapes. These are compelling pieces that flow and drift with the unexpected ...

13
Year in Review

12 Most Read Album Reviews: 2017

Read "12 Most Read Album Reviews: 2017" reviewed by Michael Ricci


All About Jazz tracks how often an album review is read, and the reviews listed below represent the top 12 published in 2017. There Is No Love David Sylvian by Phil Barnes Published: July 18, 2017 Bright Lights & Promises: Redefining Janis Ian Sarah Partridge by Dan Bilawsky Published: April 14, 2017 Official Bootleg: Live in Chicago, June 28th, 2017 King Crimson by ...

20
Album Review

David Sylvian: There Is No Love

Read "There Is No Love" reviewed by Phil Barnes


David Sylvian has long divided opinion. For every passionate supporter there are half a dozen who will decry his every move as pretentious. Even among his fanbase there are many who want him to do something more to their taste, along the lines of some past triumphs like Japan's Quiet Life or Tin Drum, or solo albums including Brilliant Trees or Blemish (delete as applicable) that represent their personal favourite(s). For Sylvian the answer is, I suspect, simple: if you ...

78
Extended Analysis

David Sylvian: There's a Light That Enters Houses With No Other House in Sight

Read "David Sylvian: There's a Light That Enters Houses With No Other House in Sight" reviewed by Phil Barnes


David Sylvian's extended flight from pop stardom in the middle years of the 1980s was an enthralling counterpoint to that decade's facile obsession with surface and relapse into materialism. While mainstream pop retreated from the innovations and musical openness of post-punk into the empty banalities of bean counting corporate rock, Sylvian among a few others appeared to plot a different idiosyncratic path routed in improvised music and jazz. Central to this were his often inspired choices of collaborators ...

13
Book Review

David Sylvian: On the Periphery (The Solo Years)

Read "David Sylvian: On the Periphery (The  Solo Years)" reviewed by Nenad Georgievski


David Sylvian: On the Periphery (The Solo Years) Christopher E. Young 372 ISBN: 978-0-9927228-0-7 Malin Publishing Ltd 2013 With his songs of spiritual and emotional quest, and unspeakable yearning, singer and composer David Sylvian really occupies his own musical cosmos. Often viewed as the quiet man of popular music who through hushed stillness and subtle, delicate and sometimes disturbing sounds, has created a body of work which provided an important bridge between ...

313
Extended Analysis

Died In The Wool - Manafon Variations

Read "Died In The Wool - Manafon Variations" reviewed by Nenad Georgievski


Inventive and beautifully direct, Died In The Wool is another masterpiece in a long string of albums that singer and composer David Sylvian has recorded. His varied career portrays a restless creative spirit who makes engaging work, and Died In The Wool is another winner. Few artists at this point of their career would accept such challenges or would stray from their identifiable core. Ever since Blemish (Samadhi Sound, 2003), Sylvian has been commissioning sister records for his ...

165
Extended Analysis

David Sylvian: Died In The Wool - Manafon Variations

Read "David Sylvian: Died In The Wool - Manafon Variations" reviewed by John Kelman


David Sylvian Died In The Wool: Manafon Variations samadhisound 2011 As the world becomes a smaller place, so, paradoxically, do musical communities expand to reach around it. British singer/composer David Sylvian--first of 1980s pop group Japan, but then a solo artist taking increasing chances with each successive album--has been busting down boundaries of geography and genre since 1984, when he released his first solo album, Brilliant Trees (Virgin), bringing together Fourth World progenitor, trumpeter ...

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123

Recording

David Sylvian - Blemish (2003)

David Sylvian - Blemish (2003)

Source: Something Else!

By Tom Johnson It isn't necessarily that blemish was so drastically different than anything David Sylvian had done before. He'd done ambient, both alone and with such visionaries as Holger Czukay and Robert Fripp, and some of it verged on being noise to me. (I'm not a fan of noise-as-music, but I do like good ambient.) And he's of course done his share of vocal pieces—first as the voice of Japan and then solo. But never before had he blended ...

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Performance / Tour

Forgotten Series: David Sylvian - Gone to Earth (1986)

Forgotten Series: David Sylvian - Gone to Earth (1986)

Source: Something Else!

By Tom Johnson I have a sort of extra-sensory perception relegated solely to picking up the faint signals thrown off by the arrival of music I want in a music store at a specific location. Be it a brand new disc only available as an import or some equally hard-to-find domestically-released item, or even something I desperately wanted to find used, I will awake with an urge—no, urge is too weak a word—a need to hit up a particular music ...

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Festival

David Sylvian Announced as Artist in Residence for Punkt 2011

David Sylvian Announced as Artist in Residence for Punkt 2011

Source: John Kelman

David Sylvian has been confirmed as Artist in Residence for the Punkt Festival in Kristiansand, Norway (September 1-3). Sylvian will be creating an audiovisual installation entitled “Uncommon Deities," and will curate an evening of concerts, including the debut live performance of his 1988 release Plight and Premonition. In addition to Sylvian, this concert will feature John Tilbury, Jan Bang, Erik Honoré, Eivind Aarset and Philip Jeck. Thursday, Sepember 1, Sørlandeartmusuem, 18:00-22:00: David Sylvian: Uncommon Deities Opening evening of David Sylvian's ...

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Interview

Singer/Songwriter David Sylvian Interviewed at AAJ...And More!

Singer/Songwriter David Sylvian Interviewed at AAJ...And More!

Source: All About Jazz

Many artists deliberately avoid taking risks, making changes instead opting for the safe, but David Sylvian is not one of them. Across his illustrious career, Sylvian has always sought to take listeners out of their comfort zone. Self-consciousness and introspection permeate every corner of his works. His mostriveting songs have explored various topics, including spirituality and soul-searching for the modern world. His songs are evocative and fragile, confronting the listener about the challenges inherent in being human.

AAJ Contributor Nenad ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Plight & Premonition...

Gronland Records
2018

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There Is No Love

Confront Recordings
2017

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David Sylvian:...

SamadhiSound
2014

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Brilliant Trees +...

Cristal Records
2013

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A Victim Of Stars...

Cristal Records
2012

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Died In The Wool -...

SamadhiSound
2011

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