Dead Can Dance
| Dead Can Dance | |
|---|---|
 |
|
 |
|
| General information | |
| origin | Melbourne , Australia |
| Genre (s) | World music , neoclassical , gothic rock , post-punk |
| founding | 1981, 2011 |
| resolution | 1998 |
| Website | www.deadcandance.com |
| Founding members | |
Music, singing |
Brendan Perry |
Music, singing |
Lisa Gerrard |
music |
Paul Erikson |
music |
Simon Monroe |
| Current occupation | |
Music, singing |
Brendan Perry |
Music, singing |
Lisa Gerrard |
percussion |
David Kuckhermann |
Dead Can Dance are a musical group of Australian origin that combine influences from very different, ethnic musical styles into their own style.
history
founding
Alto Gerrard and baritone Perry, both of Anglo-Irish descent, met in Melbourne , Australia in 1980 . Both performed as musicians in pubs. The multi-ethnic environment in the East Prahran neighborhood where they both lived began to influence their musical style. The two musicians worked together in a Lebanese restaurant on the side to earn money to move to London . In 1981 Brendan Perry, Lisa Gerrard, Paul Erikson and Simon Monroe founded Dead Can Dance. The driving force was Perry, who pursued the concept of an artist collective with changing musicians. But since the musicians could not meet his demands in the long term, the group was reduced to Perry and Gerrard. At first Gerrard was not interested in working in a permanent formation, but regularly supported Perry and his group, preferably accompanying instrumental on the Chinese Yangqin and contributing the background vocals. The first joint piece in which Gerrard sang the lead voice was the improvised frontier , which, however, already anticipated all the stylistic elements of the group: Gerrard's non-lyrical, phonetic singing, atmospheric electronic sound structures in connection with acoustic instruments, here too Yangqin.
Move to London
In 1982 both moved to London, frustrated by the Australian music scene. Perry was hoping for a record deal there. In the first few years, however, the musicians lived on unemployment benefits. During this time they recorded various demo tapes in order to force the desired record deal. After two years they met Ivo Watts-Russel, who had founded a small independent label called 4AD three years earlier . Watts-Russel got hold of one of the demo tapes and was particularly enthusiastic about the piece Frontier . Due to the label's lack of money, it took a while before a collaboration came about. In November 1983 the group recorded one of the peel sessions on the BBC . In March 1984, with the help of various guest musicians, the first album Dead Can Dance was released , which is stylistically based on the post-punk and gothic rock sounds of the early 1980s and anticipated essential elements of the ethereal , such as fading guitar sounds, and world music . The name of the work is intended to symbolize the bringing to life of dead or forgotten objects and is an allusion to the use of medieval instruments. The cover was adorned with a ritual mask from New Guinea , which was supposed to represent the title visually: the mask was initially part of a tree that became inanimate matter. However, the craftsmanship of the makers gave the mask its own liveliness for ritual use. This transformation from animate to inanimate and inanimate to animate should embody the core of your musical experience. Recording the album turned out to be difficult, as Perry and Gerrard were not satisfied with the modest technical recording facilities in the small eight-track studio. Neither of them could really get used to the sound of their first record.
After contributing two tracks to the 4AD musicians' first album This Mortal Coil , Dead Can Dance recorded the 12 ” EP Garden of the Arcane Delights that same year . Just a year later, Spleen and Ideal, the second album followed, which reached number 2 in the British independent charts. The album, the title of which is based on the first part of the Fleurs du Mal by the French symbolist Charles Baudelaire , was produced by John Rivers, who was able to meet the sonic requirements of the duo. The album marked, with the exception of titles such as Avatar and The Cardinal Sin , a move away from electric guitars and towards acoustic instruments such as cello, kettledrum and trombones.
Within the Realm of a Dying Sun
In 1986 Dead Can Dance went on an extensive tour and a year later released their third album, Within the Realm of a Dying Sun , a pioneering work for neoclassical music, in which Perry and Gerrard split the vocals according to the two sides of the album. The record was produced by Rivers again, with Perry now also taking on producer responsibility. This Perry influence is clearly reflected in a warmer, more organic tone of production. Perry wanted to move away from classic rock models for good. He occupied himself more with classical music, and he was particularly interested in the baroque with its contrapuntal structures. The two musicians decided to only work with classical instruments in the future, which should now be accompanied by samplers and computers. The new influences were implemented in the fourth publication, The Serpent's Egg, which appeared in 1988 . The hypnotic atmosphere of this recording showed the cinematic potential of the compositions. It was therefore no accident that the film industry began to take an interest in her work. In the same year Gerrard and Perry wrote the soundtrack for Agustí Villaronga's film El niño de la luna (Moonchild) , in which Gerrard made her acting debut.
Aion
In 1990 the first tour through the USA followed . In the same year Dead Can Dance released their fifth album with the title Aion , based on Plato's philosophical term , which reflects the interest in Renaissance music more than any other recordings. In addition to Gregorian chant and traditional songs, it contains medieval instruments such as the hurdy-gurdy and bagpipes. Aion also testifies to the vocal development of the two vocalists. A first retrospective followed in 1991 under the title A Passage in Time , which also contained two new pieces ( Bird and Spirit ). The compilation now also shows the musical development, which builds on one another without repeating itself stylistically.
Into the labyrinth
In September 1993, Into the Labyrinth was released , which combined electronic elements with world music more than before . That same year, Perry and Gerrard steered new and old pieces to the US film Baraka in and took two pieces with the Ambient -Nestor Hector Zazou on (Sahara Blue) . The live album Toward the Within , which was released a year later and was recorded on the US tour, contained mostly previously unreleased tracks.
Solo, Spiritchaser and Separation
In 1995 Perry began working on a solo album that would not be finished until four years later ( Eye of the Hunter , 1999). Gerrard also began work on a solo album, which was released in the same year on 4AD (The Mirror Pool) . While Perry was more oriented towards folk music and acoustic guitar, Gerrard's album mainly contained orchestral pieces, including a version of Handel's Largo from Xerxes . The Mirror Pool contained pieces that were made during the Dead Can Dance period but not used.
On the 1996 album Spiritchaser , Dead Can Dance moved more towards Afro-Caribbean music. Rhythmic structures dominated, played by up to ten percussion players. Perry remained the musical mastermind on this last album together. He developed the musical visions and structured the joint work.
On December 9, 1998, the two separated for undisclosed reasons, the band was disbanded. The only comment on the breakup is from Lisa Gerrard. For a while on their website under the title The Dead Can Dance Statement was the sentence: “When fear comes to where love should be, it's time to move on!” .
Gerrard also began with various collaborations (e.g. with Pieter Bourke, Patrick Cassidy, Denez Prigent, Ennio Morricone and Klaus Schulze ) and started a career as a film music composer that has been crowned with a Golden Globe and two nominations (e.g. Gladiator with Hans Zimmer , The Insider and Ali with Pieter Bourke and Whale Rider ). Perry now lives in Ireland (Cavan Eire), is the director of the Quivvy School of Samba and occasionally gives percussion workshops in the old Dead Can Dance studio (Quivvy Church). In addition, he continues to publish music - albeit at large intervals - that he himself writes, plays, records and produces in his home studio.
Reunion, anastasis
In 2003 a “best of” album was released with Wake , which included recordings of the John Peel sessions with The Lotus Eaters and the last joint piece by Dead Can Dance, which was supposed to be part of a new album.
In the spring and autumn of 2005, a surprise tour of Europe and North America took place as Dead Can Dance , during which new songs by the two composers were played: Saffron , Yamyinar , The Love that Cannot Be , Crescent , Minus Sanctus and Hymn for the Fallen were. There were rumors of a reunion. After this very successful tour, Lisa Gerrard confirmed in several interviews that the joint appearances were a one-time action and that there would be no new joint releases as Dead Can Dance. She and Brendan Perry have diverged too much musically over the years and the differences have become irreconcilable.
On May 12, 2011, Brendan Perry announced in his official forum that the recording of a new album was planned for the coming winter, which should be released by summer 2012. This is to be followed by an extensive two-month world tour at the end of 2012.
Since September 2011 an EP called Live Happenings - Part 1 can be downloaded for free from the band's homepage.
At the beginning of August 2012, Anastasis (Greek for 'resurrection') was released after a 16 year hiatus, the first joint album as Dead Can Dance. It went straight into the top 10 of the charts in Germany. Musically, however, the work is more closely related to Brendan Perry's second solo album Ark , which was released in 2010 eleven years behind the first album, than to the last joint release Spiritchaser (1996). In terms of instrumentation, synthesizers with modulated strings and winds predominate. Instrumentation and rhythm are kept homogeneous. The singing of the eight tracks alternates between Perry and Gerrard per song. The interspersed world music elements refer to the Middle and Far East and North Africa. The reviews were mostly cautious. The sound was described as a “meditation sound styled from front to back”, which lacks any innovation. The “high-gloss aesthetics of a blockbuster soundtrack” prevail. The Chicago Tribune ruled the album was in many ways less bold and daring than their best works.
style
Dead Can Dance's music uses elements from rock , neoclassical , medieval and world music , preferably from Eastern European and Arab cultures . The instrumentation of the songs includes African percussion instruments, Australian didgeridoos , Asian string instruments, European guitars and electronic sound generators . In terms of the vocal line-up, Brendan Perry's soft, deep voice contrasts with Lisa Gerrard's clear alto voice with a strikingly large vocal range. Gerrard usually does not sing in a real language, but uses her voice to create intuitive sounds that accompany the music. Perry sings in English, mostly mysterious and poetic texts.
Discography
|
Chart positions Explanation of the data |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Albums | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- 1984: Dead Can Dance
- 1984: Garden of the Arcane Delights (EP)
- 1986: Spleen and Ideal
- 1987: Within the Realm of a Dying Sun
- 1988: The Serpent's Egg
- 1990: Aion
- 1991: A Passage in Time (Best of)
- 1993: Into the Labyrinth
- 1994: Toward the Within (Live)
- 1996: Spiritchaser
- 2001: 1981 - 1998 (Best of)
- 2003: Wake (Best of)
- 2005: Memento: The Very Best of Dead Can Dance (Best of)
- 2005: Selections from North America 2005 (Live)
- 2012: Anastasis
- 2013: In Concert
- 2018: Dionysus
Web links
- Official website
- Brendan Perry
- Lisa Gerrard
- Dead Can Dance on MusicBrainz (English)
- Dead Can Dance in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Dead Can Dance at laut.de
- Dead Can Dance at Discogs (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lisa's various quotes ... (No longer available online.) The Lisa Gerrard Message Board, archived from the original on July 14, 2014 ; accessed on August 3, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ ark.brendan-perry.com ( Memento from November 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Brendan Perry: DEAD CAN DANCE NEW ALBUM AND TOUR FOR 2012. (No longer available online.) The Brendan Perry Forum, May 11, 2011, archived from the original on May 22, 2011 ; accessed on August 3, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ : Download: Dead Can Dance offer Live Happenings - Part 1 Free! COMA Music Magazine, September 30, 2011, archived from the original September 4, 2012 ; accessed on November 27, 2015 (English).
- ↑ In Germany, Anastasis was able to stay in the top 10 for a week, in Austria the highest ranking was No. 24, in Switzerland No. 15 (also one week each time), source: chartsurfer.de ( Memento des Originals from 5. October 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
- ^ Andreas Schiffmann: Dead Can Dance: Anastasis , musikreviews.de.
- ↑ "It is much more a tour through much of the band's previous history than an exercise in delivering anything new", Thom Jurek: Anastasis - Dead Can Dance , allmusic.com.
- ↑ Mario Keipert: Dead Can Dance: Anastasis ( Memento from July 15, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), musik-am-montag.de, August 20, 2012.
- ↑ “In many ways, the new work is a good deal less daring and adventurous than their finest albums”; Greg Kot: Album review: Dead Can Dance, 'Anastasis' , Chicagotribune.com, August 13, 2012.
- ↑ DE AT CH UK US1 US2
