David Sylvian ~ The Good Son Vs The Only Daughter
The Good Son Vs
The Only Daughter presents nine remixes of songs originally recorded for 2003’s
Blemish. That album was a significant departure from the template established
by its predecessor, Dead Bees On A Cake whose adaptation of traditional forms
hinted at an uncertainty as to musical direction. Four years later, Blemish
authoritatively embraced the influence of contemporary electronic explorers
such as Christian Fennesz and Autechre as well as continuing the practice
of collaborating with noted instrumentalists, in this case the guitarist Derek
Bailey. Blemish was a stringent brew, redolent of Samuel Beckett or Scott
Walker’s Tilt at the same time as it recaptured some of the singularity
of “Ghosts”, the swansong of Sylvian’s former group, Japan.
A number of people have been invited by the singer to provide remixes of those
songs, including Japanese minimalist Ryoji Ikeda and German shapeshifter Burnt
Friedman alongside less familiar names Readymade FC and Sweet Billy Pilgrim.
There are two versions of “Blemish” and “The Only Daughter”,
but the repetition doesn’t annoy because, rather than sounding fragmentary
or incoherent, the music flows together and impresses as a suite of songs.
The remixes succeed in binding together Blemish’s oblique narratives
into richly detailed palimpsests. The opulence of the production at times
suggests twinkling fireflies borne on the night air or mirrors spotted with
age, in which Sylvian’s familiar silhouette can still clearly be spied.
He occasionally worries at a phrase as if rubbing at a random pebble plucked
from the beach, the dull mattness of its surface examined for a last trace
of the shine of seawater, for the feeling behind the words. “And the
mind’s divisive, but the heart knows better.” David Sylvian convincingly
argues for an honest engagement with feeling and on tracks like “Late
Night Shopping” subtly satirises the spiritual vacancy of contemporary
values. This music is a gorgeous set of variations and, unlike so many remix
projects, can be recommended unreservedly.
Colin Buttimer
April 2005