CXXIV. Dead Can Dance | Aion

DEAD CAN DANCE

Aion

©4AD. UK, 1990.

‟Desconcertante el designio de la clarividencia: el muerto puede bailar. ¿Prodigio o infortunio? Peor aún, ¡su ritmo!, ese contoneo corrupto que dibuja una vil existencia; esa demencial imagen, placida, de tortura psicológica delineada por una atmósfera disímil, turgente de escabrosos detalles armoniosos que como tibias notas, como embrujo de lágrimas musicales, agobian y fascinan, cual relación bipolar. Y es que es asombroso como ese manto musical, ese murmullo sardónico que se esconde tras esta mirada cabizbaja, deprava a la belleza y la ahoga en un estado vesánico, y que tras arrebatos pasionales la saca a flote, y el duelo del desenfreno se desarrolla sobre una espesa e impenetrable niebla de desilusión. ¡Sí!, esa niebla, que cobija a las sombras reptantes en su narcótica intimidad embustera y de esta suerte, forma la unidad, punto de partida e inicio hacia mundos de ensueño y profunda introspección. Proeza mórbida, maldición suprema, amor sucio, manto de oscuridad que ofusca a la razón, haciéndola despreciadora de la cognición, y que malamente troca esa virtud por el desenfreno de las prohibiciones, del instinto natural y de versos recargados y vacíos que nos han de dar consuelo. Desconcertante el designio de la clarividencia, el muerto puede bailar: ¡me estoy moviendo, el muerto soy yo!.‟

Crimsondelator

 

 

LXXXIV: Dead Can Dance | Spleen And Ideal

DEAD CAN DANCE

Spleen And Ideal

©4AD. UK, 1985.

‟Dead Can Dance defined their music in Spleen and Ideal, moving away from gothic-rock, though still belonging in the age of gothic-rock, as exemplified by "De Profundis", which is a pure liturgy, a sound that is further abstracted in the ceremonial pounding of "Ascension", which veers towards impressionist sound-painting, i.e. pure atmosphere. It's a spectacular start but which doesn't last very long, with Lisa Gerrard's medieval litany "Circumradiant Dawn" and Brendan Perry's pompous (but tame) "The Cardinal Sin" (halfway between a ceremonial chant and an existential ballad) being far less impressive. Thankfully, "Mesmerism" returns to a sensational atmosphere: part Slavic dance, part middle-eastern ecstatic chorus, and part European symphonic splendour, all the while Perry reverts to the dense marching ceremony "Enigma Of The Absolute". European classical pessimism returns in "Advent", which also confirms they still rely on the post-punk beat. "Avatar" (with it's breathtaking coda) sort of encapsulates the method of the whole album, which is: getting the ethnic ceremonial litany, adding the sparkling textures of new-age (which themselves are a new form of symphonic music) and working within the framework of European pessimism (which is also the framework that gothic-rock adheres to). After such a highlight, the closing "Indoctrination" feels much inferior, which also underlines that this is a rather uneven album.‟

Ily

  

V. Dead Can Dance | Dead Can Dance

 

DEAD CAN DANCE

Dead Can Dance

©4AD. UK, 1984

‟Their debut album is perhaps the most "pop" that Dead Can Dance would ever go; or, to be more precise, it's the most "pop" that Brendan Perry would ever go under the Dead Can Dance moniker. For this album is thoroughly schizophrenic, neatly split into two distinct personalities. Listening to Lisa Gerrard's songs as opposed to Brendan Perry's, it's almost inconceivable how these two people would record together under a common band name.

Brendan Perry's songs are by far the inferior tracks here; not only do they significantly lack substance or interesting melodies, they are also badly produced with that awful 1980s sheen, poorly arranged and sound horribly dated, like Soft Cell doing goth parodies.
Lisa Gerrard's songs on the other hand do not just have great melodies, they also sound significantly better (as if recorded in a different studio) and make more use of multiple musical layers, resulting in much superior songs. Gerrard's voice sometimes floats, sometimes wails, but always creates a unique atmosphere that perfectly complements her already well-textured instrumental background. "Frontier" and "Threshold" are two outstanding examples of how gorgeous this can sound. Gerrard's songs also seem to draw from a greater variety of influences, western as well as ethnic, so her songs make for some very rewarding listening.


On the Garden of the Arcane Delights EP, included here as bonus tracks, Brendan Perry manages to slightly redeem himself, but Gerrard's "Flower of the Sea" totally steals the show again, while none of the other tracks here are really a match for the better tracks on the debut LP, or any of the subsequent LPs.


A wonderful album if programmed to play without the Brendan Perry tracks, but as a whole it's unfortunately a very rocky journey through vastly inferior and superior material in quick succession‟

Hprill