Music For The End Of The World, Part 2: "Summoning of the Muse" by Dead Can Dance

Creating a soundtrack for the end of the world...

...within the realm of a dying sun.

https://www.deadcandance.com/

"American Dreaming" by Dead Can Dance

Consider the spirit of these words: "American Dreaming" by Dead Can Dance.

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I need my conscience to keep watch over me
To protect me from myself
So I can wear honesty like a crown on my head
When I walk into the promised land

We've been too long American dreaming
I think we've all lost the way
Forlorn somnambulistic maniacal
In the dark

I'm in love with an American girl
Well, she's my best friend
I love her surreptitious smile
That hides the pain within her

And we'll go dancing in the rings of laughter
And live alone by the shores
Forlorn in the rounds of rapture
And live alone for the loss

Yeah, on the lea the rising wind blows
Fay-ee, on the lea the rising wind blows
How long? How long?

Forlorn in the grounds of allegiances
We left behind
Turned back by the foot of the doorway
Never lost and found

We've been too long American dreaming
I think we've all lost the heart
Forlorn somnambulistic maniacal
In the dark

Yeah, on the lea the rising wind blows
Yeah, on the lea the rising wind blows
How long? How long? 

https://www.deadcandance.com/

"Children Of The Sun" by Dead Can Dance

The history of mankind.
"Children Of The Sun" by Dead Can Dance.
Glorious. Epic. Powerful.

We are ancients
As ancient as the sun
We came from the ocean
Once our ancestral home

So that one day
We could all return
To our birthright
The great celestial dome

We are the children of the sun
Our journey's just begun
Sunflowers in our hair

We are the children of the sun
There is room for everyone
Sunflowers in our hair

Throughout the ages
Of iron, bronze, and stone
We marveled at the night sky
And what may lie beyond

We burned offerings
To the elemental ones
Made sacrifices
For beauty, peace and love

We are the children of the sun
Our kingdom will come
Sunflowers in our hair

We are the children of the sun
Our carnival's begun
Our suns will fill the air

And you know it's time
To look for reasons why
Just reach up and touch the sky
To the heavens we'll ascend

We are the children of the sun
Our journey has begun

All the older children
Come out at night
Anemic, soulless
Great hunger in their eyes
Unaware of the beauty
That sleeps tonight

And all the queen's horses
And all the king's men
Will never put these children back
Together again

Faith, hope, our charities
Greed, sloth, our enemies

We are the children of the sun
We are the children of the sun

I am happy to see that, despite the fact that Brendan Perry vowed never to set foot in the United States while that buffoon was in office (and I can't blame him), Dead Can Dance are touring North American this year. Go see them!
https://www.deadcandance.com/

"The Mountain" by Dead Can Dance

The amazing musical project Dead Can Dance (previously here, here, and here)--Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry formed it in 1980--have just released their first new album in twelve years. Called "Dionysus," it is structured like a classical piece. A suite of seven movements in two acts each portray an aspect of the cult of this ancient Greek god of wine and pleasure.

The album sprang from two different inspirations.

Perry had a transcendent experience twenty years ago in which he and his brother traveled to Spain and found themselves visiting during a festival called Rompida de la Hora in which thousands of drummers play for 16 hours, through the night. And being musicians and students of ethnomusicology, they grabbed some drums and joined in, overcome with a kind of Dionysian frenzy. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Perry said, "You just get into a trance after a few hours of playing and you wander around the streets and you meet other drum groups and realize there’s thousands of them playing throughout these little towns, and they’re covered in blood. Our hands split open. We didn’t feel anything. We were completely oblivious to the pain."

Then about two years ago while researching Greek music, Perry fell down a rabbit hole after reading Friedrich Nietzsche’s THE BIRTH OF TRAGEDY: OUT OF THE SPIRIT OF MUSIC which explores two schools of cultural thinking: Apollonian and Dionysian. In a simplified explanation, the former is about order, control, and logic while the latter is about freedom, chaos, and emotions. But much like our left-brain/right-brain minds, both are needed to create something. Perry responded to this idea and thus "Dionysus" was born.

He wanted to create a piece of music without creating "songs" so the structure assembled itself almost as chapters in an epic myth. And this Dead Can Dance "Dionysus" is indeed epic. Using world instruments such as the zourna from Turkey, the Bulgarian gadulka, the Ancient Greek bowed psaltery, and the gaida (a bagpipe from the Balkans and Southeastern Europe) blended with field recordings of ambient sounds such as Mexican singing birds and goatherds in remote mountain areas of Switzerland, the results are sweeping and cinematic.

Rolling Stone reports on the very special vocals of Perry and Gerrard:
To craft the language of Dionysus, he used a computer plug-in of choral libraries that has an engine called a "Syllabuilder." "It’s basically a directory of sung syllables, which you can then put together into phrases and sentences from a directory," he explains. "You can invent your own words and phrases, and then you can play them polyphonically. You can have a whole group singing the same phrase in different harmonies. So I made a combination of that with Lisa’s and my voices to create the ensemble effect."

"I have no idea what language is on the album," Gerrard says. "I think the album is very much about Brendan unlocking his own language. He’s always been a genius and a remarkable composer, but I think that in this album he is coming to something very innocent and brave."

They will be going on tour in a few months but they are scheduled in the UK, and Western and Eastern Europe only. Perry says they will return to the United States only when the Monster-in-Chief is impeached and is history. Can't blame him.

https://www.deadcandance.com/

Currently listening to...

...the ethereal, otherworldy "Waves Become Wings" by This Mortal Coil from the classic debut album "It'll End In Tears" released in 1984. TMC was a kind of "super group" comprising members from many different bands who were all signed to the 4AD label. This song features Lisa Gerrard from Dead Can Dance (previously here, here, and here) on vocals and treated accordion.

http://www.4ad.com/artists/thismortalcoil
http://www.lisagerrard.com/
http://www.deadcandance.com/main/

Currently listing to...

...the haunting "The Carnival is Over" by legendary duo Dead Can Dance (Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard, previously here and here). It's just that kind of a day...

Outside the storm clouds gathering
Moved silently along the dusty boulevard
Where flowers turning crane their fragile necks
So they can in turn reach up and kiss the sky

They're driven by a strange desire
Unseen by the human eye
Someone's calling

I remember when you held my hand
In the park we would play
When the circus came to town
Over here

Outside the circus gathering
Moved silently along the rain swept boulevard
The procession moves on, the shouting is over
The fabulous freaks are leaving town

They're driven by a strange desire
Unseen by the human eye
Someone's calling

The carnival is over

We sat and watched
As the moon rose
For the very first time

http://www.deadcandance.com/main/

Like Having A Black Sun In A White World

Currently listening to...

..."The Protagonist" by Dead Can Dance. Grand, commanding, and mythological, with a video of hypnagogic images.

http://www.deadcandance.com/main/