Died in the Wool: Manafon Variations

by David Sylvian

Overview

David Sylvian's MANAFON (2009) appeared as a collection of disciplined art songs that relied on his collaborators to inform not only their textures, but their forms. Those players -- Jan Bang, Evan Parker, John Tilbury, Dai Fujikura, Erik Honore, Otoma Yoshide, and Christian Fennesz among them -- created airy, often gently dissonant structures for Sylvian's lyrics and melodic ideas. Died in the Wool (MANAFON Variations) re-employs these players (with some new ones) in the considerable reworking of five of MANAFON's compositions. There are also six new songs that include unused outtakes, and two poems by Emily Dickinson set to music and sung by Sylvian. The new music here relies heavily on Sylvian's association with Fujikura: he composed, arranged, and conducted chamber strings that are prevalent. Where MANAFON's "Small Metal Gods" was orchestrated by acoustic guitar, laptop, electronics, bass, and cello, this one employs a string quartet that provides greatly expanded harmonics, which underscore the desolate power in Sylvian's lyrics. On "Snow White in Appalachia," strings shift the tune's original sonic gears into diffused, vaporous sonorities. On the title track, Fujikura uses a composed clarinet sample to introduce John Butcher's saxophone, a mixing board, an all-but-unrecognizable guitar, cymbals, and samples to stretch a narrative melody to its ghostly breaking point. Dickinson's poem, "I Should Not Dare," is a standout; its gentle, accessible melody, accompanied by Sylvian's acoustic guitar, is made sharper by Fennesz's electric and samples from Honore. Parker adds a gorgeous nocturnal saxophone line and Bang provides an unusual string arrangement to create the feeling of deep longing across great distance. "A Certain Slant of Light," also by Dickinson, is less formal but more moodily cinematic with its layers of samples. A delightfully fragmented redo of "Emily Dickinson" completes the sonic re-creation of her image as this set's Muse. On "Anomaly at Taw Head," Fujikura's string abstractions -- introduced by Parker's bluesy saxophone and Tilbury's minimal piano -- add dimension to Sylvian's open field melodic structure. The underlining poetic is tense, but seductive. There is a bonus second disc, too, in Sylvian's 18-minute sound installation "When We Return You Won't Recognize Us." It is a stellar, ambient work featuring Arve Henricksen, Butcher, the Elysian Quartet, Eddie Prevost, Toshimaru Nakamura, and Gunter Muller. It should be listened to on headphones to grasp all of its intricacies. Died in the Wool (MANAFON Variations) showcases Sylvian's restless discipline in expanding his music's parameters, and those of song itself, while offering even greater opportunities for his collaborators to influence its creation. ~ Thom Jurek

Product Details

Release Date:	02/07/2025
Label:	Universal Import
UPC:	0602465575910

Album Credits

Performance Credits

David Sylvian   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals,Sampling,Keyboards,Saxophone,Electronics,Guitar (Acoustic)
Erik Honore   Cello,Sampling,Synthesizer
John Tilbury   Piano
Sachiko M   Sampling
Emma Smith   Violin
Jennifer Curtis   Violin
Hildur Gudjnadottir   Cello
Werner Dafeldecker   Bass (Acoustic)
Chris Gross   Cello
Marcio Mattos   Cello
Arve Henriksen   Trumpet
Jan Bang   Sampling
Stale Storlokken   Synthesizer
Dai Fujikura   Sampling,Conductor,Director
Michael Moser   Cello
Christian Fennesz   Guitar
Laura Moody   Cello
Jennymay Logan   Violin
Erik Carlson   Violin
Kate Romano   Clarinet
Claire Chase   Flute (Bass)
Margaret Dyer   Viola
Vincent Sipprell   Viola
Steve Jansen   Cymbals
Keith Rowe   Guitar
Christian Wallumrod   Piano
Wendy Richman   Viola
Evan Parker   Saxophone
Eddie Prevost   Percussion
John Butcher   Saxophone
Tetuzi Akiyama   Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)
Franz Hautzinger   Trumpet
Otomo Yoshihide   Turntables
Helge Sten   Guitar
Charlie Cross   Viola
Michi Wiancko   Violin
Katinka Kleijn   Cello
Ros Stephen   Violin

Technical Credits

Erik Honore   Mixing,Arranger,Composer
John Tilbury   Composer
Sachiko M   Composer
Rupert Coulson   Engineer
Burkhard Stangl   Composer
Werner Dafeldecker   Composer
Arve Henriksen   Composer
Jan Bang   Mixing,Arranger,Composer,String Arrangements
Toshimaru Nakamura   Mixing,Composer
Dai Fujikura   Flute Arrangement,String Arrangements,Mixing,Composer
Michael Moser   Composer
Sachiko   Composer
Emily Dickinson   Lyricist
Christian Fennesz   Composer
Adrian Molloy   Session Coordinator
Aniyama   Composer
George Bolster   Cover Art
Ted Young   String Engineer
Keith Rowe   Composer
Evan Parker   Composer
Fennesz   Composer
Eddie Prevost   Composer
David Sylvian   Mixing,Composer,Producer,Art Direction
John Butcher   Composer
Fred Kevorkian   Mastering
Bang   Composer
Otomo Yoshihide   Composer
Guenter Mueller   Composer
Chris Bigg   Design
Henriksen   Composer
Sylvian   Composer,Lyricist
Rowe   Composer
Tetuzi Akiyama   Composer