David Sylvian - Manafon
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Artist: David SylvianEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
CD Release Date: 2009-09-15
Music Label: SAMADHI SOUND UK
Soundtracks:
- Small Metal Gods
- The Rabbit Skinner
- Random Acts Of Senseless Violence
- The Greatest Living Englishman
- 125 Spheres
- Snow White In Appalachia
- Emily Dickinson
- The Department Of Dead Letters
- Manafon
Music reviews of Manafon
Music Review: Right there with Beehive
Rating: 5 Stars
How long has it been since "The Secrets of Beehive"? Twenty years? It seems David Sylvian's wheel of time is once again positioned in a very similar way than what was evident on that album. Two things. Like on that record, poet's experience and creativity is again the main issue. Another land mark from that same era. Few years later in "Ember Glance" exhibition book Sylvian refers to art as way to help heal the emptiness and neurosis of contemporary existence. In my opinion the same is achieved in this latest record, but in a very subtle way.
But maybe I am assuming too much here? After all Sylvian himself only says that the record is the twin sister of "Blemish" and that they both are contemporary takings on the genre of chamber music.
But there are also differences. Blemish is more of a duo, a duo of Sylvian's voice having a dialog with either Bailey's guitar or with the sparse electronic background. Here the size of the group is bigger, from three participants to combinations of 8 players.
But there is also another difference. As revolutionary as the discovery of Blemish was, there was also problems of loss of intensity within that record, especially at the second half of it. For me the record seems to lose its grip with the listener in "Late Night Shopping" and "How Little We Need to be Happy". In my opinion this is due to the fact there is actually two (wretched?) storylines in that record. One is the dialogue between Sylvian's wry storytelling and Bailey's guitar and the other is the discourse between him and the electronics. The two storylines do not come together and that leads to this loss of intensity at the second part of Blemish.
Nothing like this happens in "Manafon". It is masterfully played and masterfully constructed. As amazing as it seems, the record somehow manages to combine the freedom of improvisation to the overall construction of it. Though musical expressions are fresh and unexpected, at the same time the whole body of work is thematic to the degree of being conceptual.
The front door of the record, "Small Metal Gods", is fairly assessable to old fans. A folk song but a very intriguing one. Already here he puts you in the mindset of the rest of the record, or welcomes you to the undergrowth of it. There is something disquieting about it. Somehow getting into it reminds me of the hyper-cautious existence of a deer (like the one on the cover!). The hissing of wind, the birds, the non-regular plugging of instruments like someone is walking on dry sticks. Inadvertently you become strung up.
Some reviewers have said that that the next piece "The Rabbit Skinner" is a difficult one to deal with because here Sylvian seems to sing against the rest of the ensemble, or his voice is disjointed from everything else that happens around it. This is just pure nonsense. Nowhere has Mr Sylvian's listening been more precise than in pieces like "The Good Son" and "The Rabbit Skinner". The voice registers players' every gesture. The end result is chamber music warm and singing (but in a different way than something you can whistle to). The closest comparison I can think of is Boulez's ground breaking study in timbre "Le Marteau sans Maitre".
After this the record starts its slow descension to a state where urge to express becomes more and more compressed and/or suppressed. In "The Greatest Living Englishman" the players are still able to "short-circuit" this by attacking the storyline with distorted samples of modern chamber music, but by the time of "Emily Dickinson" the expressive role of instruments is almost completely thinned out to that of providing heavy layers of colour to the half whispered - half talked confessions of Sylvian.
This process of the thinning out of expressiveness does not make the second half of the record in my opinion any way less rewarding. Quite the contrary, it is exactly through this process that the record manages to maintain potency for imminent violence and to captivate the listener.
"Emily Dickinson" is probably the most violent song Sylvian has ever made. Very hard to describe what cord it hits in your soul, but it hits hard. Irregular bursts of electronics and Parker's sax-solo like a wolf's howling. Terrible, chilling and beautiful!
But there is also deliverance. After a brief orchestral interlude Sylvian gives us a way out. Not an exotic place, no surrender to Hindu Gods, no wanderlust, no drugs, but a picture of a poet ascending the valley of grief with (considerations pertaining to?) time.
The title song is actually almost as easily assessable as "Small Metal Gods". A bit like his collaboration with Alesini and Andreoni in "Come Morning".
All and all, superb work. A must buy.
Description of Manafon
Extremely limited edition two disc (CD + NTSC/Region 0 DVD) box set comes in two separate hard back, cloth-bound volumes housed a cloth-bound rigid slip case with an accompanying black on white high quality print of a portrait by Atsushi Fukui, each individually signed by the artist and David Sylvian. Volume One (CD) includes a 40 page full colour printed, perfect bound book to accompany Manafon, featuring the complete lyrics plus artwork from Atsushi Fukui and Ruud Van Empel. Volume Two (DVD) includes a 24 page full color printed, perfect bound book to accompany the documentary Amplified Gesture and a 5.1 surround sound mix of the album mixed by Sylvian. Samadhi Sound.Miscellaneous CDs
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