Sleepwalkers

by David Sylvian

Overview

Like everything else he does, musical iconoclast David Sylvian's idea of a retrospective compilation is very different from the norm. Sleepwalkers is a 16-track, hour-plus collection focused on his many collaborations during the previous decade. Included are alternate takes from his own albums, remixes, reworked material and his contributions to the albums of others. There is one new cut, pointing to the future: "Five Lines" with Japanese composer Dai Fujikura, is a complex art song with a string quartet. (According to Sylvian, Fujikura is working with him on a completely new, orchestral version of Manofon.) This new piece is one of the many highlights. Another is "Playground Martyrs," from brother Steve Jansen's album, Slope. While Jansen handles most of the instrumentation and a string arrangement, Sylvian delivers one of the most sonorous vocal performances of his career. Another track from Slope, "Ballad Of A Deadman," features a duet with Joan Wasser (Joan as Police Woman) on a mutant 12-bar blues. Thematically, light mixes with dark, and genres criss cross. On "Exit/Delete," from Takagi Masakatsu's Coieda, acoustic guitars, strings and ambient textures create something gauzy and nearly upbeat, while Sylvian delivers a devastating lyric, in equally upmood manner a la Lou Reed's Berlin, about an overdose suicide. "World Citizen - I Won't Be Disappointed" was co-composed with Ryuichi Sakamoto and was the single from his Chasm release. The spoken word "Angels," is a collaboration with Jan Bang and Erik Honore from the album Crime Scenes, while "Thermal," another recitation, features Bang, Arve Henricksen and Eivind Aarset. One of the album's more provocative pieces is "Transit," with Christian Fennesz from the guitarist's Venice release. There are two selections here from Snow Borne Sorrow, by Nine Horses, the collaborative project between Burnt Friedman, Jansen and Sylvian; both pieces are lovely but "The Day The Earth Stood Still," with its saxophones and multiple vibraphones is gorgeous. The title track is an outtake from the Manofon sessions that began as an instrumental handed to Sylvian by Martin Brandlmayr of Polwechsel. Its vocals are scathing, bitter, more extreme than almost anything in Sylvian's catalog. Sleepwalkers is a provocative and compelling listen, full of moods, shapes, colors, spaces, and textures. Sylvian has created (aestehtically at least) something approaching an entirely new offering from various chapters in his recent musical past. ~ Thom Jurek

Product Details

Release Date:	06/10/2022
Label:	Groenland
UPC:	5060238638371

Tracks

1. Sleepwalkers
2. Money for All
3. Do You Know Me Now?
4. Angels
5. World Citizen/I Won't Be Disappointed
6. Five Lines
7. The Day the Earth Stole Heaven
8. Modern Interiors
9. Exit/Delete
10. Pure Genius
11. Wonderful World
12. Transit
13. World Citizen
14. The World Is Everything
15. Thermal
16. Sugarfuel
17. Trauma

Album Credits

Performance Credits

David Sylvian   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals,Voices,Harmonica,Keyboards,Electronics,Fender Rhodes
Hayden Chisholm   Clarinet,Saxophone
Tim Motzer   Guitar (Acoustic)
Arve Henriksen   Trumpet
Stina Nordenstam   Vocals
Burnt Friedman   Drums,Vocoder,Synthesizer
Amadeo Pace   Guitar (Electric)
Jan Bang   Sampling
Beverlei Brown   Vocals (Background)
Joseph Suchy   Guitar (Electric)
Derek Green   Vocals (Background)
Michi Wiancko   Violin
Katinka Kleijn   Cello
Dai Fujikura   Conductor
Daniel Schroeter   Double Bass
Takuma Watanabe   Keyboards
Thoas Hass   Saxophone
Keith Lowe   Bass,Double Bass
Steve Jansen   Drums,Piano,Sampling,Keyboards,Percussion,Synthesizer,Sampled Strings
Audun Kleive   Percussion
Ingebrigt Haker Flaten   Bass
Andrea Grant   Vocals (Background)
Joan Wasser   Violin,Vocals
Wendy Richman   Viola
Erik Honore   Synthesizer
Sachiko M   Sampling
Eivind Aarset   Guitar
Jennifer Curtis   Violin
Martin Brandlmayr   Drums,Marimba,Computers,Vibraphone
Morten Gronvad   Vibraphone
Tommy Blaize   Vocals (Background)
Ryuichi Sakamoto   Keyboards
Theo Travis   Flute

Technical Credits

Tony Cousins   Mastering
Chris Vrenna   Producer,Instrumentation,Mixing,Composer
Tim Motzer   Composer
Arve Henriksen   Composer
Sketch Show   Programming
Burnt Friedman   Editing,Composer,Producer,Programming,Sequencing Programmer
Jan Bang   Mixing,Arranger,Composer,Producer
Toshimaru Nakamura   Mixing
Masakatsu Takagi   Composer,Producer,Instrumentation
Chris Bigg   Design
Dai Fujikura   Composer,Strings Orchestrator
Jean-Philippe Verdin   Mixing,Composer,Producer,Instrumentation
Christian Fennesz   Mixing,Composer,Producer,Instrumentation
Clint Walsh   Composer
Kristamas Klousch   Cover Art
Takuma Watanabe   Composer,Producer
Steve Jansen   Mixing,Composer,Producer,Sample Programming,String Arrangements
Audun Kleive   Composer
Fernando Aponte   Mixing
David Sylvian   Mixing,Composer,Lyricist,Producer,Remixing,Art Direction,Compilation Producer
Erik Honore   Mixing,Composer,Producer
Eivind Aarset   Composer
Martin Brandlmayr   Composer,Producer
Ryuichi Sakamoto   Mixing,Composer,Producer,Programming