My
only other reference point for the music of Dead Can Dance is the 2005 ‘very
best of’ release, Memento. That album is of course a compilation of more than
two decades worth of peaks, so as far as benchmarking levels go it’s a fairly
lofty height to live up to.
As
far back as the early Eighties Dead Can Dance always seemed to be one of those
“bands” skirting around the periphery of stuff I liked – think, say, 4AD
stablemates This Mortal Coil/Cocteau Twins for an immediate marker. Yet I never
really formed a particularly strong bond with anything they released at the
time, or indeed, over time. A copy of Memento would seem like more than enough
for the casual fan; all I’d need, a representative work, and an acknowledgement
of their existence. Surely?
Well,
yes, but then none of the above accounts for DCD’s capacity for pleasant
surprises. For an ability to conjure up something special, a belated swansong
even, when least expected …
Brendan
Perry and Lisa Gerrard’s decision to reform and collaborate on a new album –
2012’s Anastasis – some 16 years after the release of the duo’s last album of
new material under the Dead Can Dance moniker was, even in this age of
nostalgia overload, a major surprise.
For
Anastasis to then go on and become one of more impressive albums of the year
speaks volumes about how productive and far reaching that “comeback” has been. Rather
fittingly, I’m told that the album’s title (Greek) can be loosely translated to
mean “rebirth” (or something akin to that). No question they got that bit
right.
It
also led to a hugely busy year for the duo, with an extensive tour across North
America and Europe throughout the northern hemisphere autumn, a trip that even
scheduled a gig in the troubled hot spot that is Lebanon (Beirut).
Not
that Anastasis is a dramatic departure from anything DCD has offered us
previously, and Perry and Gerrard clearly haven’t set out to reinvent the wheel;
what worked before still works. As always we get a highly unique variation on what
most of us would call goth – part classical or neo classical, part pop, part
world music … but it’s never anything less than 100% arty and always true to
the duo’s dark roots.
If
anything, the album feels like a slight progression on DCD’s tried and trusted
forms. Maybe it is just better technology all these years on, but there’s a
real depth to Perry’s carefully crafted sound collages that I’d not noticed
before, and Gerrard’s heavenly vocal remains as rich as ever.
If
there’s a downside it’s that some of the lyrics feel a little awkward at times,
shop-worn or a little cliché even. Listen too carefully and you’ll doubtlessly
find a couple of cringeworthy moments. Perry and Gerrard share vocal duties, seldom
together, Perry’s strengths being the darker tracks, with Gerrard practically flawless
on the more eastern flavoured or world music styled tracks.
Highlights:
the string drenched opener ‘Children of the Sun’, a sweeping epic to kick
things off. ‘Amnesia’, which lopes along harmlessly before slowly revealing the
darker themes at its core. And while the old-worldly Celtic textures of ‘Return
of the She-King’ also resonate strongly with me, the real jewel on the album is
‘Opium’, a beautifully constructed masterpiece featuring a great vocal from
Perry; Goth 101 … and a lot more besides (link below).
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