...within the realm of a dying sun.
https://www.deadcandance.com/
Showing posts with label Lisa Gerrard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lisa Gerrard. Show all posts
Monday, July 13, 2026
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...
https://www.deadcandance.com/
https://www.deadcandance.com/
Monday, January 15, 2024
BEAUTY: Clothing--John Alexander Skelton
Before we dive into the Milano Moda Uomo shows, let's take a tiny little detour to London.
I have been a fan of John Alexander Skelton for many seasons now. Regular readers know I love clothing that has an historical sense, which can manifest in the silhouette, the patterns and cuts, and of course in choices of color and materials. It is why I love the work of Westwood, Yamamoto, Anne Demeulemeester when she was head of her own house, the swashbuckling collections of Galliano, even Armani in his refined luxury. But the work of John Alexander Skelton is extraordinary. Skelton (previously here--please do take a look at some incredible past collections), who was awarded the Sarabande scholarship granted by the Lee Alexander McQueen Foundation and graduated from Central Saint Martin’s with an M.A. in fashion men’s wear in 2016, references Dickensian/19th-century/Victorian/Edwardian menswear such as frock coats and high-waisted trousers. Of course I am wild for the Romantic and historical references in his collections, and a signature detail of his is the plethora of buttons on shirts, waistcoats, and jackets. Skelton says he sees buttons as the simplest form of decoration, as a kind of jewelry, so he applies them liberally to pieces. I feel his love and respect for antique English clothing just like Westwood.
For the last several seasons, Skelton has presented his collection via a lookbook which, and while being able to be photographed in various special British locations which can support the theme and concept of the clothing, leaves out a little of the theatrical. So I am pleased that he presented his Fall-Winter '24-'25 collection live at London's St. Bartholomew-the-Great, a marvel of 12th-century Romanesque arches and Gothic Revival tombs. It was a perfect spot because, whereas the last few seasons were about a certain kind of rural-British folk-earthy vibe, this FW collection was unmistakably ecclesiastical. His penchant for buttons dovetails perfectly into a priestly cassock. The addition of vermillion to the Skelton color palette seems to support the theme as well.
But what really tickles my New Romantic heart (here and here) was the fact that the soundtrack for the show was the song "Dreams Made Flesh" from the very first This Mortal Coil release in 1984. Skelton revealed, "Whenever I really need to concentrate, or to focus on the more creative side of my job, I put on This Mortal Coil—it’s almost like a soundtrack to my work. It feels as if there’s a kind of imagined world behind the music that I wanted to capture in this collection. Taking the inspiration from the music gave me a lot of freedom.”
https://www.johnalexanderskelton.com/
I have been a fan of John Alexander Skelton for many seasons now. Regular readers know I love clothing that has an historical sense, which can manifest in the silhouette, the patterns and cuts, and of course in choices of color and materials. It is why I love the work of Westwood, Yamamoto, Anne Demeulemeester when she was head of her own house, the swashbuckling collections of Galliano, even Armani in his refined luxury. But the work of John Alexander Skelton is extraordinary. Skelton (previously here--please do take a look at some incredible past collections), who was awarded the Sarabande scholarship granted by the Lee Alexander McQueen Foundation and graduated from Central Saint Martin’s with an M.A. in fashion men’s wear in 2016, references Dickensian/19th-century/Victorian/Edwardian menswear such as frock coats and high-waisted trousers. Of course I am wild for the Romantic and historical references in his collections, and a signature detail of his is the plethora of buttons on shirts, waistcoats, and jackets. Skelton says he sees buttons as the simplest form of decoration, as a kind of jewelry, so he applies them liberally to pieces. I feel his love and respect for antique English clothing just like Westwood.
For the last several seasons, Skelton has presented his collection via a lookbook which, and while being able to be photographed in various special British locations which can support the theme and concept of the clothing, leaves out a little of the theatrical. So I am pleased that he presented his Fall-Winter '24-'25 collection live at London's St. Bartholomew-the-Great, a marvel of 12th-century Romanesque arches and Gothic Revival tombs. It was a perfect spot because, whereas the last few seasons were about a certain kind of rural-British folk-earthy vibe, this FW collection was unmistakably ecclesiastical. His penchant for buttons dovetails perfectly into a priestly cassock. The addition of vermillion to the Skelton color palette seems to support the theme as well.
But what really tickles my New Romantic heart (here and here) was the fact that the soundtrack for the show was the song "Dreams Made Flesh" from the very first This Mortal Coil release in 1984. Skelton revealed, "Whenever I really need to concentrate, or to focus on the more creative side of my job, I put on This Mortal Coil—it’s almost like a soundtrack to my work. It feels as if there’s a kind of imagined world behind the music that I wanted to capture in this collection. Taking the inspiration from the music gave me a lot of freedom.”
https://www.johnalexanderskelton.com/
Sunday, November 11, 2018
"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/
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/
Friday, December 29, 2017
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/
http://www.4ad.com/artists/thismortalcoil
http://www.lisagerrard.com/
http://www.deadcandance.com/main/
Friday, November 3, 2017
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/
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/
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