It isn't necessarily that blemish is so drastically different than anything David Sylvian has done before. He's done ambient, both alone and with such visionaries as Holger Czukay and Robert Fripp, and some of it has 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 has he blended these elements together quite the way he has on blemish, a new recording released on his Samadhisound label and available only from his site.
Sylvian takes on all aspects of the recording here - he composed and played everything, he recorded it, and he produced it. This gave him the freedom to stretch out as he never had before, creating a decidedly uncommercial album in the process - no surprise there. "Vocal ambient" is the best way to describe the outcome, as the music behind his vocals is often formless and beatless, but is nonetheless an intriguing bed over which to weave his lyrics. I worried that an album like this would be an utter failure, as there are no bounds that would prevent it from straying too far. Fortunately, Sylvian's melodic sense is so strong that he is able to carry the burden with his voice alone, allowing the music to swim free underneath him. And Sylvian's voice is in strong form - his husky baritone has developed a warmth and depth over time that only seems to grow more seductive. At an age when most vocalist become more wispy and thin, David Sylvian is in better form both vocally and musically than the majority of his peers - of which he truly has few.
Sylvian employed jazz-guitarist Bill Frisell on several tracks of his previous project, Dead Bees On A Cake, and the duo tracks the two recorded hinted at the direction Sylvian committed fully to on blemish. But where tracks like "Dobro #1" fell slightly flat and felt forced and stiff, it is Sylvian's freedom on this outing that enables these atmospheric tracks to really come to life. Along for the ride on three tracks is avant-garde freak-guitarist Derek Bailey, who is either tremendously talented at playing the way no one else has, or has absolutely no idea what those long shiny thin strings on a guitar do - and so he plinks and plucks, seemingly at random. His work is like utterly alien sounding abstractions of traditional Chinese music - intriguing and grating at the same time. This is Bailey's art - playing the illogical as musical, finding sounds from the grating of a string on a fret; stopping a note before it rings out; frantic, dissonant scales. He truly knows no bounds, and could easily take any project too far out. But under the engaging melodies of Sylvian's voice, Bailey's odd plinkings and pluckings work. Christian Fennesz, a name I know but whose work I am unfortunately unfamiliar with, provided electronics and arranged the album's beautiful, liquid-dream closing track, "a fire in the forest."
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Marcus
The music in Blemish remember the first experiments in the 60 years of Xenakis,Berio,Maderna etc...It's not a surprise! I dont find nothing of interesting in this tedious work.There is always a wonderfull voice but...is too little.I hope in the next.
Marcus
2 - todd
God--I think the record is so amazing. For what seems like a really long time he concentrated more on production and less on the guts of the songs. This is so full of emotion--so raw. It, in my mind, puts Sylvian back on the list of absolutely crucial artists.
3 - Tom Johnson
Perhaps what DS has done with the album isn't technically "new," as you suggest Marcus, but I think where we diverge is about what we find of interest on the album itself. What I hear is a really honest expose' of a relatively mysterious artist. I feel like - if this makes sense - I am listening to David Sylvian in a way that his music issued via traditional outlets didn't allow. What I'm getting at is, this is a more personal album, in my eyes, than anything else DS has done before. I get caught up in his phrasings because they feel more heart-felt than ever.
Todd: I agree. While I enjoyed Dead Bees it never came together the way I had hoped it would (especially with the band he had on it - I really expected more.) I think the retrospective Everything and Nothing actually works the best of anything in his catalog now. I continue to revisit this set not because I want to hear his older songs but because the way he's reworked many of them creates a sort of narrative flow through each disc. I would, however, save room at the top of the list for a complete version of Gone To Earth. I have very nearly bought the entire (very expensive) out of print Weatherbox on Ebay just to get the original two-disc version of GtE. Who knows if we'll ever see that release . . . ?
4 - Diego
How conceited he is!!! this record is a
boring exercise of mannerism.
...And i am a great fan of DS!
5 - Ostinato
The good news is that we hear musicians DS had never worked with before. It was time for a change. But the bad news is that there is something missing in this record. Music maybe, or melodies, maybe both. I miss Kenny Wheeler and Jon Hassel.
6 - paul
I agree with Ostinato above, especially about missing Jon Hassel. Blemish is an admirable record in the sense that it never panders; there are no grooves or hooks thrown in to connect with the audience; no overt sentimental references to his wife and family (thank God). Instead, Sylvian's dryly recorded vocals (too dry, sometimes) feel like a weird kind of guide through these stark, formless soundscapes that Derek Baily comes up with. He's practicing alienation on this record, not connection and harmony. And the effect is jarring and very intriguing, especially "the only daughter" and "late night shopping". However, the experiments on Blemish also leave you cold and is not something I will wish to return to as the years go by, unlike his experimental yet moving "Weathered Wall". The problem is that Sylvian still desparately wants to be an abstract artist, removed from form and convention, instead of being a great song-writer. I wish someone would remind Sylvian that he created one of the most impossibly beautiful albums of all time (Secrets of the Beehive), and that there is no artistic shame in capitalizing on your strengths as a song-writer. Let's hope Blemish is just a stepping stone and not a vocation.
7 - Tom Johnson
Paul: I'd much rather see DS continue to take chances like he did with blemish than continue in the vein of Secrets. I've already got that, and really appreciate seeing an artist not be simply content to do what "easiest" for him to do. I put DS in the "artist" category of musicians, and when it's art, I'd rather experience a few flaws in the pursuit of a higher art.
8 - ostinato
There is not doubt Brilliant Trees, Words with the Shaman and Secrets of the Beehive are great records. Whether or not experimental music, I still enjoy listening to it, probably because different layers of sound are combined-merged to produce a music that goes beyond the sum of its components. Blemish somewhat lacks this kind of alchimy DS had delivered us in the past.
such as Rain tree crow or Boats for burning. In this respect Blemish may be an attempt at . Very intriguing indeed.
However, I must confess that I keep listening to Blemish although I am not one hundred percent convinced I like it, just waiting for something to happen. Late night shopping and A fire in the forest sound quite familiar, reminding me of
As a song-writer DS has nothing to prove. Dead bees on a cake added nothing much to his discography, in my view, except for I surrender. I would not have bought Dead bees II.
The music of Derek Baily, I never heard before, is really odd. Not the easiest way to please the audience. The gap between voice and music would have been narrower with contributions by jazz musicians like John Taylor (remember the end of Laughter and forgetting). As a Kenny Wheeler fan, I would love DS to record music with a small jazz band such as Azymuth.
9 - paul
Although it's usually a sign of a creative deadend for most artists, I would love to hear Sylvian do a covers album. He talked about it briefly once and then nothing happened. His cover of Tim Hardin's "It'll Never Happen Again" is breathtaking and better than the original.....and lest we forget "Ain't That Peculiar"...It's time he does one.
10 - susan
Are you serious in saying that Sylvian's version of "it'll never happen again" is better that Tim Hardin's?? Have you heard it?
Suppose you thought 'i SECOND THAT EMOTION' & 'dONT RAIN ON MY PARADE'
were great too?
The only reason I'd like to see Sylvian
make a covers album is because his lyric's are so poor.
He's a beautiful robot with a heart of ice. And that's it.
He should stick to instrumental music.(Which he is a genius at)
I cant comment on 'Blemish' as I've yet to hear it, but I'd put my life on there
not being a decent solitary lyric on there.
11 - j c
Susan is a little harsh perhaps - Blemish is lyrically intense... it stands up better than DBOAC in many respects.
Really empathise with ostinato's comment - I'm also still listening - waiting for something to happen. I remember not understanding side 2 of Brilliant Trees, then the feeling of awe when I eventually heard the beauty of the title track... But that isn't going to happen with Blemish. This is hard core nutter music - anti-music in places.
It's not that I'm disappointed. I'm not. DS could have released an album full of "I surrender" songs, bland and vaguely nauseous - but he decided to go off on one with these tracks. So in a sense I'm relieved that he hasn't made an album that's too easy... The last track is top however - perhaps it's the contrast.
Looking forward to his next release though...
12 - paul
This response is for Susan above:
Yes, I've heard Tim Hardin's original of "It'll Never Happen Again" and a lot of his other stuff as well. But, I think Sylvian's voice on piano gets closer to the sadness in the lyric than Hardin's does; Sylvian makes the song his own. Have you heard Sylvian's???
As for his lyrics, I don't think he hits the bull's eye everytime but when he does, the results are sublime. If you're not moved by "Boy with the Gun" or "Waterfront" or "Talheim", then I would say that you are the one with a "heart of ice."
And finally, I can't help but notice your hostility towards DS. Did he stand you up or something?
13 - susan
For Paul...
I used to be a huge japan/sylvian fan
( & I'm still always interested to hear what he's up to)but i just feel he's been half baked since 1988.
I think a lot of it is to do with how much ground he's covered (with japan and solo). His music has'nt surprised me for a long long time.
Yes, I have heard Sylvians 'It'll never happen again'(i have a bootleg from festival hall show)We obviously disagree on this one!
I agree with you concerning his lyrics("he does'nt hit the bulls eye everytime" )Most of them just leave me cold. Boy with the gun is an exception,possibly because he's singing about something other people can easily relate to.(This is a rare occurance)
Still have'nt heard 'Blemish', but my guess is camphor/a brief coversation ending in...topped with more nonsense about saints, guru's and soft focus landscapes.
I dont feel any hostility to Mr Sylvian, just dissapointment in his output for the last 15 years
14 - paul
I agree that his output over the past 15 years definitely pales in comparison to his first 3 solo records. (I think the only way those records are going to be recognized for the masterworks they are is for Sylvian to die. And then, like Nick Drake, everyone will care about him.) But he's done a few things over the past 15 years that have been spectacular, that show that he still has it. I love his lyrics. He's no Joni Mitchell, but who is! I seriously doubt he'll ever reach that creative peak again for that long a period.
15 - Ricardo Gramaje
Definitivamente es uno de los mejores trabajos de Sylvian. Mas allá de la experimentación, el álbum es muy interesante en cuanto a la apertura mental de este artista...
16 - Paul Baran
Sylvian reminds me of a sonic archivist in the tradition of those Late Victorian English Orientalists, who would journey to the Occident (India, Persia, and Japan )and bring back cultural tidbits for Western perusal. For this, he should be aknowledged, and contextulsed. He seems to be the missing Link between Sir Richard Burton and Dequincey and David Bowie, smoking the opium pipe of Eastern Culture, until his artistic vision becomes hazily askew to the point of uncertainty. But this is what gives his music a haphazard, pretentious, quality which is eccentric and endearing.
Paul Baran
17 - ostinato
Susan, I agree DS music has been somewhat disappointing for 15 years. Maybe it is because his first three solo records were almost perfect. The Weatherbox, I did not purchase when it was released, would probably be enough for me.
To add something about Blemish, I suppose it sounds too obviously like music intended to be unexpected, unconventional: dissonant guitar sounds like dissonant guitar, electronics sound like elecronics, tiny pieces of melodies sound like tiny pieces of melodies, and thats it. Some kind of raw material or unfinished music. Intriguing, but not really convincing, probably composed and recorded too fast.
18 - Maria Walker
Festival Hall show in September could be interesting. But with ticket prices STARTING at £27.50, and a new album that
most fans agree is dissapointing, is'nt it a bit rich? I think it's time he was removed from the pedastal he's been perched upon for so long.
19 - paul
Despite my distaste for Blemish, I do believe that this kind of material is better suited to a live setting. Most improvisations are. So, I really hope he makes it to NYC. Time will tell.
20 - BRICKLAYER
As a person who has had many a blemish in his day (thankfully now not as many, thanks to Accutane-although I was very depressed for 2 years-but my skin cleared up), I take great offense at your distate, sir!