Based in London, England, but tracing their origins to Australia, Dead Can Dance's long campaign in the music industry has rarely attractcd attention outside of a devoted following. Whether this is a result of wilful obscurism or a disciplined artistic vision is a moot pomt, but the band have now left behind more than a decade's worth of, by türm infuriating and blissful, avant gatde pop. Their name had the unibrtunate affect of nailing their colours to the gothic masthead, though in truth they were light years away from this genre. The monikcr did, however, have a purpose, and expressed the band's desire to: 'release dormant energy, the dynamic principle of the music itself ... a drum is a reservoir of potential energy which _vou can rclease by virtuc of the diaphragm into soundwaves, into moving particles. It's that creative act which "dead can dance11 describes.' The band's debut collection was not äs focused äs later efforts, mingling their trademark male/female vocals with an unco-ordinaled mesh of chants and drawling guitar. However, from pack-aging to production it fltted the 4AD Records aesthetic perfectly, and there were enough hints of the less prosaic gerns to come to distinguish the band. Reduced to the core duo of Brendan Peiry and Lisa Gerrard, Spleen And Ideal was an altogether more thrilling and cohesive record, with the discordant guitar barrage abandoned in favour of a considered array of instruments, including cello, trombones and tympani. Wirhin The Reatm Of a Dying Sun gave further indication of their talent, though some critics balked at the idea of giving the two singers one side each of the record, making its tone uneven. [t also revealed a debt to music from the Middle East, a process that was further explored by the less satisfying The Serpent's Egg. Aion took äs its premise medieval or 'early music', using Gregorian chants, similar in many ways to the work of Bei Canto, and baroque stylistics, played with genuine folk instruments (including hurdy gurdy and bagpipes). Into The Labyrinth confirmed Perry's greater awareness of electronics and samplers, and while Tbwards The Withm is a basic live album, it pri-marily contains a phenornena! live repertoire never before committed to vinyl. By 1995 Perry hadbegun work on his first solo album, while Gerrard's stunning vocals had seen her record in an orchestral context. The mofher group's seventh Studio album, Spintchaser, arrived at a time when Dead Can Dance were becoming acknowl-edged influences on the UK dance music community (Black Grape and Future Sound Of London having both sampled their work). This time the group moved away from the Celtic influences that exerted themselves on into The Labyrinth, towards sounds reminiscent of African and South American music. However, äs Gerrard succinctly informed the press: 'It's gone past the point of being 'this1 and 'that'. Music has come to a new age, where we're exposed to music from all over the world . . .' For similar reasons, Spiritenaser served to validate the reason for Dead Can Dance's continuation into the 90s, the group having proved themselves to be among the most accurate cultural conductors in populär music, shifting emphasis effortlessly in keeping with the Zeitgeist.
Copyright © 2004 Dennis Vihar. All Rights
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Date: 06. Jan 05