Dead Can Dance

Dead Can Dance

Dead Can Dance is a band comprising Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry. Formed in Melbourne in 1981 and initially based in Australia, it disbanded in 1998 but reunited temporarily for a world tour in 2005.

Career

Though they formed the band in Australia, Gerrard and Perry moved soon after to London, where after one year they signed up to alternative rock label 4AD Records, a legendary label on the alternative music scene. They continued to work closely together until the late 1990s when they started to grow apart. Gerrard returned to Australia, while Perry moved to Ireland, where he bought an old church, Quivvy Church, where he lives and works. It is speculated that the distance between the members was an influence in their eventual break-up, although Perry himself said that distance helped in maintaining a certain individual freedom in creativity.

Assigning a musical genre to Dead Can Dance is difficult, as its style is particularly eclectic. However, its early work could be considered "darkwave". In their later work, including and subsequent to the release entitled The Serpent's Egg, Dead Can Dance would take ancient or various musics from around the world as primary sources, with Gerrard singing glossolalia, giving it a very distinctive style. As a result, their later albums sound quite different from the first three. Various sources have labelled those latter releases as neo-classical, ethereal or dark world music.

The name "Dead Can Dance" is inspired by the Danse macabre allegory. The instruments that are used are either ancient, forgotten or no longer desirable to most musicians. Another understanding of the name is the idea of giving a life to the inanimate, as Perry said:

Dead Can Dance cover, 1984

"The album artwork [of their self titled first album], a ritual mask from New Guinea, attempted to provide a visual reintrepretation of the meaning of the name "Dead Can Dance." The mask, though once a living part of a tree is dead; nevertheless it has, through the artistry of its maker, been imbued with a life force of its own. To understand why we chose the name, think of the transformation of inanimacy to animacy.... Think of the processes concerning life from death and death into life. So many people missed the inherent symbolism, and assumed that we must be 'morbid gothic types,' a mistake we deplored and deplore..." [1][2]

Discography

Albums

• Dead Can Dance (1984)
• Spleen and Ideal (1985)
• Within the Realm of a Dying Sun (1987)
• The Serpent's Egg (1988)
• Aion (1990)
• Into the Labyrinth (1993)
• Toward the Within (1994)
• Spiritchaser (1996)

Live albums (limited editions)

• Closer to Heaven (1992)
• Dublin (10/03/2005) 2CD
• The Hague (12/03/2005) 2CD
• Paris (14/03/2005) 2CD
• Lille (16/03/2005) 2CD
• Brussels (17/03/2005) 2CD
• Madrid (21/03/2005) 2CD
• Barcelona (22/03/2005) 2CD
• Milan (24/03/2005) 2CD
• Cologne (26/03/2005) 2CD
• Munich (27/03/2005) 2CD
• London (06/04/2005) 2CD
• London (07/04/2005) 2CD
• Selections from Europe 2005, 2CD
• Seattle (17/09/2005) 2CD
• Seattle (18/09/2005) 2CD
• Toronto (01/10/2005) 2CD
• Montreal (02/10/2005) 2CD
• Montreal (04/10/2005) 2CD
• Boston (05/10/2005) 2CD
• Washington D.C. (10/10/2005) 2CD
• Chicago (12/10/2005) 2CD
• Chicago (12/10/2005) 3LP
• Selections from North America 2005, 2CD

EPs

• Garden of the Arcane Delights (1984)

Promotional CDs

• The ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove (CD promo)
• The carnival is over (CD promo)
• American dreaming (CD promo, edited live version)
• The snake and the moon (CD promo)
• Sambatiki (CD promo)

Compilations

• A Passage in Time (1991)
• Dead Can Dance (1981-1998) (2001)
• Wake The Best of Dead Can Dance (2003)
• Memento The Very Best of Dead Can Dance (2005) (single-disc greatest hits)

Contributions

• It'll End in Tears (This Mortal Coil, 1984 "Waves become wings" & "Barramundi" & "Dreams made flesh")
• Lonely Is an Eyesore (4AD compilation, 1987 "Frontier -demo" & "The protagonist")
• Sahara Blue (Hector Zazou, 1992 "Youth" & "Black stream")

Movie scores

• Demoni 2 (1986)
• El niño de la luna (aka Moon Child; 1989)
• Baraka (1992)
• In the Kingdom of the Blind (1992)
• Ruth's Journey (1996)
• In the Presence of Mine Enemies (1997)
• Nevada (1997)
• La Chacala (1998)
• Killing the Afternoon (2005)

A 1998 follow-up album to Spiritchaser was planned, but the band separated before it was largely realized. One song that was to have appeared on it was fully recorded in the studio and is entitled "The Lotus Eaters." Though the album was never completed, "The Lotus Eaters" was eventually released on the box set Dead Can Dance (1981-1998) as well as the 2-disc Wake.

File:Dcd logo.jpg

2005 tour logo

In addition, many unofficial live bootlegs exist of concerts spanning their career, which contain several rare songs that were only performed live. Though Toward the Within is their only official live album, Dead Can Dance released limited edition recordings of 13 shows from their 2005 European tour, as well as a compilation entitled Selections from Europe 2005. These concerts were recorded and released by The Show.

One of the band's more noteworthy tracks features in Episode 1, Season 5 of The West Wing. Sanvean can be heard during the poignant final scene when members of the Bartlett family are attending a private church service following the kidnapping of the youngest daughter, Zoey.

Another poignant scene can be found in the movie Unfaithful where two songs off of Spiritchaser are played simultaneously: "Devorzhum" is a soft, lullaby song that is transposed over "Dedicacé' Outò" which contrastingly is filled with various up-tempo percussion. Together the two songs create a visceral tension that complements well the visual stress on the screen of how Diane Lane's character is fighting her will to stay faithful, yet still gives into the passion of adultery.

Additionally, one can find snippets of Dead Can Dance's music permeating popular culture, such as:

• "Summoning of the Muse" from Within the Realm of a Dying Sun as an introduction for a national women's gymnastics program and Arch Enemy also used it as an intro for their last tour.
• portions of "De Profundis" from Spleen and Ideal and "Nierika" and "Song of the Stars" from Spiritchaser as theme and background in a Pioneer Productions/Channel 4/Discovery Channel/ABC TV documentary program on black holes featuring Homer Simpson
• The opening of "The Host of Seraphim" from The Serpent's Egg in a trailer for the film Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and is featured in the Japanese CGI film Vexille 2077 Nihon Sakoku.
• "Rakim" during the opening scenes/magic act of the CSI/Sason 3 episode "Abra_Cadaver."

Videography

Live performances

• Toward the Within (VHS) (1994)
• Toward the Within (DVD) (2004)

Contributions

• Lonely Is an Eyesore (4AD compilation, 1987)
• All Virgos Are Mad (4AD compilation, 1994)

There are also many unofficial bootlegged recordings of Dead Can Dance concerts, recorded throughout their career.

Cover versions

Shoegazer band Ride (band) recorded a version of "Severance", which was released on the 2003 album Waves. Bauhaus performed "Severance" during its 1998 reunion tour, and included a studio version on the album Gotham. Helena Iren Michaelsen's band Imperia covered "The Lotus Eaters" in 2004 on the tribute album, The Lotus Eaters.

External links

• Dead Can Dance Official Site
• Dead Can Dance Polish fan site
• Dead Can Dance Italian fan site
• Dead Can Dance Library
• Dead Can Dance Within
• Dead Can Dance at discogs.com
• Dead Can Dance discography at MusicBrainz
• Template:Last.fm
• http://www.gothic.hu/pantheon_dcddiszkografia.html
• Dead Can Dance Interview Profile from Radio Program Echoes 1999