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Following the 1982 dissolution of
Japan, the group's onetime frontman
David Sylvian staked out a far-ranging and esoteric career that encompassed not only solo projects but also a series of fascinating collaborative efforts and forays into filmmaking, photography, and modern art. Born
David Batt in Kent, England, on February 23, 1958,
Sylvian formed
Japan in 1974 and served as primary singer/songwriter throughout the group's eight-year existence. Just prior to
Japan's breakup,
Sylvian began working with composer
Ryuichi Sakamoto, with whom he released the single "Bamboo Houses" in 1982, marking the beginning of a longstanding musical relationship.
After 1983's "Forbidden Colours," another joint effort with
Sakamoto composed for the film
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence,
Sylvian released his 1984 solo debut,
Brilliant Trees. The first step in his music's evolution from
Japan's post-glam synth pop into richly textured, poetic ambience, the album featured contributions from
Sakamoto as well as
Jon Hassell and
Can alumnus
Holger Czukay. That year,
Sylvian also published his first book of photographs, Perspectives: Polaroids 82/84; in 1985, he released Preparations for the Journey, a documentary filmed in and around Tokyo, as well as the EP Words with the Shaman.
Gone to Earth, an ambitious double LP recorded with assistance from
Robert Fripp and
Bill Nelson, followed in 1986, while 1987 marked the release not only of the beautiful
Secrets of the Beehive album but also the book collection Trophies: The Lyrics of David Sylvian. At the same time, he began composing the score for modern dancer Gaby Abis' Kin, which premiered at London's Almeida Theater that September; another collaboration with Abis, Don't Trash My Altar, Don't Alter My Trash, bowed in November 1988. Also in 1988,
Sylvian reunited with
Holger Czukay for the instrumental LP Plight and Premonition; the duo re-teamed in 1989 for Flux + Mutability. Ember Glance: The Permanence of Memory, an installation of sculpture, sound, and light created by
Sylvian and Russell Mills, was staged in Tokyo Bay, Shinagawa, in 1990; a year later, he and the other members of
Japan, who had briefly reunited under the name
Rain Tree Crow, issued a self-titled album.
In 1994,
Sylvian emerged in tandem with
Robert Fripp for both an album,
The First Day, and Redemption, another sound-and-image installation exhibited in Japan. The superb
Dead Bees on a Cake followed in 1999;
Approaching Silence, a collection of instrumental material, appeared later that fall. In fall 2000
Sylvian returned with the double-disc
Everything and Nothing, which made for an excellent introduction to some of
Sylvian's projects that had finally taken shape after the composition completion, financial settlements, and time constraints throughout his solo career. He reappeared in 2003 with
Blemish, an unsettling disc of new material featuring appearances by avant guitar legend
Derek Bailey and electronica experimentalist
Christian Fennesz. It took six long years for
Sylvian to record a follow-up to
Blemish, but he did so with
Manafon in 2009.
Fennesz appeared on the set, as did vanguard musicians
Evan Parker,
John Tilbury,
Otomo Yoshihide,
Polwechsel, and
Keith Rowe.
In 2010,
Sylvian's Samadhisound imprint released Sleepwalkers, a 16-track compilation of his collaborations from the 2000s, including his
Nine Horses project and
World Citizen with
Sakamoto. It also included one new song, "Five Lines," a collaboration with
Dai Fujikura. In 2011,
Sylvian released
Died in the Wool (MANAFON Variations). It featured reworkings -- more than remixes -- of some tracks from
Manafon, and included six new cuts. The work was done in collaboration with
Fujikura,
Fennesz, and producers
Jan Bang and
Erik Honoré, among others. Two tracks were actually musical versions of two poems by
Emily Dickinson, I Should Not Dare and A Certain Slant of Light. The double digipack also included the CD for
Sylvian's audio installation, When We Return You Won’t Recognize Us. In 2012 he,
Sidsel Endresen, and
Arve Henriksen were featured contributors to
Jan Bang's and
Erik Honore's Uncommon Deities. The same year he and
Stephan Mathieu recorded the duo album
Wandermüde.
Back in 2011,
Sylvian was taken with American poet
Franz Wright's collection Kindertotenwald, and while touring with
Christian Fennesz, began composing and remixing ideas related to it on a laptop. He approached Wright about a collaboration, and the poet agreed. In the fall of 2013,
Sylvian spent time with
Wright, recording him reading from his work. A short while later, he began to assemble the earlier sound ideas, newly composed ones, and those readings in a long-form work. He was aided by
Fennesz, pianist
John Tilbury, Otomo Yoshide, and
Toshimaru Nakamura. The finished piece,
There's a Light That Enters Houses with No Other House in Sight, was issued by Samadhisound in the fall of 2014. ~ Jason Ankeny