Date: Sun, 5 May 1996 21:44:57 +0200 From: Huite Rietveld (huite@XS4ALL.NL) Subject: Dead Can Dance: Spiritchaser, short review Hi, I've got a promo-cassette of the forthcoming Dead Can Dance 'Spiritchaser' now for a week or so, and think I have to share my thoughts with you. The 'Spiritchaser' album tracklisting: A1. Nierika A2. Song of the stars A3. Indus A4. Song of the dispossessed B1. Dedicace Outo B2. Snake and the moon B3. Song of the nile B4. Divorzhum As said before the album is far more percussive than other DCD albums. Therefore I have the idea large parts of Brendan Perrys solo-album are incorporated in this record. His solo-release is cancelled, well, better said: removed from the 4AD release schedule for 1996. It took me a while to love the album. Now, after playing it for the 15th time or so, there are still songs that aren't as strong as we might expect. Maybe I long to much for expressions of the soul, like happens in the live edition of Cantara (ref. Toward the within), where Lisa almost 'flips'. Then again there are tracks on this album I enclose in my heart forever. Song of the dispossessed is a hit, I think. In short: being more rhythmic than previous albums, it's the perfect record to use in your car, played very loud if you've a high quality HiFi-set. Drum on your steeringwheel for miles and miles while in autoreverse... Huite Date: Wed, 12 Jun 1996 13:45:56 EDT From: Dez (100702.123@COMPUSERVE.COM) Subject: Spiritchaser and stuff I'm not the first to post a review of Spiritchaser, nor will I be the last, but here's my contribution anyway. It arrived in the post this morning, and between then and me hearing it, I read two contrasting reviews. One in Melody Maker, basically slammed it whilst the other, in Muzik (of all places) gave it a hearty thumbs-up. Reading between the lines, it was plain the first review was by a disillusioned long-term fan, pining for the 'good old days', whilst the second was by someone hearing them with fresh ears, untainted by their past catalogue. So I came to the conclusion that, whatever its merits (or otherwise), Spiritchaser wasn't going to be an album to easily fit in the DCD canon. Anyway, the oft-commented latin influence doesn't seem to be particularly apparent to these ears. Certainly, there is a lot of percussion, but much of it is 'eastern', with a tabla to the fore. If I was to try to choose a phrase to sum up the album, it would be something like 'Transglobal Underground for the chill out room'. Of all their albums, this is easily the least eclectic, but that's not necessarilly a bad thing. The eight tracks tend to lock together in a mellow groove, and it holds together well as a unit. Nierika kicks the record off as it means to continue, a long, mellow percussive groove with little in the way of embellishment. Song Of The Stars is underpinned by a steady hand-drum rhythm, with assorted tropical bird-noises, and some nicely understated guitar. One of the good things about this record is how Brendan and Lisa are using their voices together more, both in harmony and contrast, as opposed to there being a pretty clear demarcation between Perry-tunes and Gerrard-tunes. Indus wouldn't sound out of place on 'The Mirror Pool'. Again, it's a long, stately tabla-led groove, with a hint of menace, that threatens to burst into a full orchestral storm, but never quite gets there. As the title suggests, there is a definite Indian feel to the track, but it's much less exuberant than the kind of Bollywood incidental music alluded to. Song Of The Dispossessed is the closest thing here to the epic Brendan Perry ballads that pepper previous records, in that it has understandable lyrics, and a more or less conventional tune. But it drifts, mantra-like, without making much of a mark, instead fitting in with the general mood of understatement perfectly. After a very brief, and pretty pointless percussion instrumental (Dedicace Outo), The Snake And The Moon hints at dub, but doesn't really do a great deal for its six minutes. We're back into tropical birdsong territory for Song Of The Nile, but the voices dominate. At times, Lisa's singing on this track remind me of Marta Sebestyen in contemplative mood. I have to confess, the music sounds more Congo than Nile. But this is one of the best tracks. And so we conclude with Devordzhum, a beautiful Lisa sung piece, sparsely arranged (no tablas!), and with a tune that sounds like an Irish/Middle Eastern hybrid. In the right mood, Spiritchaser is a laid-back feast, but it is very much a mood-piece to be taken as a whole, and should be judged accordingly. I like it a lot, but I can well understand that there will be many who find it a bit of a bore. Date: Wed, 26 Jun 1996 05:32:38 -0700 From: einexile the meek (einexile@NETCOM.COM) Subject: Spiritchaser (Take a wild guess.) It sucks. I really went into this with a good attitude. I mean I really did, but ended up literally sick to my stomach from it. This is the first time this has happened to me in seven years, I think. With the exception of one song, the album is nearly as awful as Tarantula. (Nothing is quite that bad.) Worse than Milk & Kisses or Bad Mood Swings. I'm not kidding. There are lots of very cosmopolitan african drums, and some of that multicultural yodeling we knew Brendan would eventually get around to. Nothing interesting happens with this stuff. Nothing. Except that Brendan hollers some and seems to get upset. A guitar solo right out of bad Spirea X works with a bad piano preset in a jazzy lounge lizard getup to create one of the ugliest songs I have ever heard...they try to flip the rhythms over on themselves and it just fails miserably. The whole album is awash in lame loops of birds chirping and charming, toothless savages singing to the Goddess, and Dead Can Dance expose themselves finally as not a goth or worldcore act but as bad ambient somewhere between Enigma and Deep Forest. There are some vocal harmonies that belong on a Bongwater / Donald Fagen collaboration. Brendan cries that he has been lied to by Western barbarians. For a few minutes they get out some bongos and make fun of Mephisto. All at once, Brendan tries to sing like Lisa and vice versa. There's a slap bass or something. None of the songs amount to much of anything; they set up a motif and then abandon it, certainly a gesture of freedom loving individualists who will not be tied down by the arbitrary "standards" of "civilized" "musical" "composition", as it were. Heh. :( The only saving graces of this record are Lisa's vocals, which for the most part are back to normal (YES i did say NORMAL), and not a surprise (or even a pleasant reassurance) following her staggering work on The Mirror Pool...and the last two songs. Devorzhum is a harmless, pretty thing that goes nowhere but manages to somehow remain inoffensive for its duration. (Maybe Brendan stepped out of the studio for a couple of months.) Song of the Nile is a good song that sets itself up to be much better but, predictably by this point, fizzles out without realizing any of its potential. Other than that, the album is goddam fuckin horrible. Even after Aion, which for the most part I cannot stand, Lisa's horrid work on Into the Labyrinth, and the fawning, stilted pretentiousness of Within the Toward, I honestly never, ever thought I would see them sink this low, and I am shocked to see it appear so soon after The Mirror Pool--moreover, to see it appear on 4AD at all. With the possible exception of Slow Buildings, which I could not even make myself listen to, I can't think of anything the label has released that is anywhere near as bad as this. Now I've seen everything. When Mojave release that Mercy ep and it sounds like Shock Me, I doubt I'll so much as blink. Fuck. einexile the jaded Date: Thu, 27 Jun 1996 01:04:01 -0500 From: Darryl Stephen Roy (dsroy@OWLNET.RICE.EDU) Subject: Spiritchaser Einexile is a bit harsh: Dead Can Dance's "Spiritchaser" is not a terrible album, but it will probably lag in playtime far behind "Within the Realm" and "Serpent's Egg". Gerrard and Perry should be given credit for following their own interests on their most recent album, rather than pandering to the expectations of their fans, like a former 4AD trio I could mention. If "Within the Realm" was the result (among other things) of Lisa Gerrard discovering the "Le Mysterie de Voix Bulgares" albums, "Aion" produced in the aftermath of some Hildegard von Bingen revelations, and "In the Labyrinth" a response to Islamic cantilation and Kurt Weill, then "Spiritchaser" perhaps results from Brendan Perry's investigations of Nigerian Juju music. The sonic signatures (aside from the talking drum choir, the duo make use of the hand and electronic percussion present at Quivvy church) are all there, in the vocal rhythm and melodies, the call and response harmony vocals, layered light fingered guitar ostinatos, and hovering hawaiian slide guitar. Owing to Brendan's vocal predicament, his pieces sound like Neil Diamond in Lagos. Lisa is back to the sinuous, melismatic vocal lines of "Labyrinth", but given the mellow accompanyment, her voice doesn't compel me to crawl out of my skin, as in her finest moments. The album, dispite the liner note invocations to animal spirits, is the lightest album DCD have released. The artwork, while making the connections to black Africa explicit, is similarly meek. Anyway, if you like the sound of the album, particularly the Perry features, the album "Juju Music" by King Sunny Ade on Mango records is highly recommended. It also happen to be a bit of a landmark, being the first afropop album released on a major label in the US. Latter Ade records are less organic, but still perfect fodder for dentist waiting rooms. d s roy