David Sylvian ~ The Good Son vs The Only Daughter
There’s a
cumulative gravity to David Sylvian’s oeuvre that‘s become increasingly
hard to ignore. After more than 25 years, rather than allow his music to ossify
into mannerism or blandness, Blemish (2003) revealed a pared down sound and
a voice placed nakedly centre stage. The intimacy of those vocals –
it seemed at times as if one might feel his breath on one’s ear - suggested
that the singer’s distress really might be located in the listener’s
heart. The timbre of that voice hinted at compacted layers of feeling, of
something deeper than mere performance. The Good Son vs The Only Daughter
offers nine remixes by a variety of leftfield artists including Ryoji Ikeda,
Burnt Friedman and Akira Rabelais. Contrary to critical expectation, the remix
with its structuralist undertow has arguably reaped relatively meager dividends.
This collection proves to be a rare exception. Sylvian’s vocals are
preserved but set within beautifully filigreed settings, like a rare gem set
by expert silversmiths. That’s not to say that the result is overly
precious, there are some heartening signs of playfulness – not least
Burnt Friedman’s interpretation of Late Night Shopping which adumbrates
the chorus with an answerphone tone that’s both enjoyably teasing and
emphasises the absence and heartache of fractured relationships. Sylvian’s
lyrical concerns are sometimes like fragments isolated from a larger puzzle.
The nature of his symbolism recalls director Andrei Tarkovsky’s response
to questions about his film Mirror: “... the image is like a clot of
life... [Mirror] doesn’t have to be made any more understandable.”
However, when Sylvian sings that “And the mind’s divisive, but
the heart knows better” it’s difficult not to conclude that he’s
emphasising the importance of intuition over easy assimilation via the intellect.
Sylvian’s music, alongside Bjork’s recent output serves as a reminder
of our still undiminished humanity by focusing convincingly upon both border
territories and our everyday experiences. The Good Son vs The Only Daughter
serves generously as a more widely-travelled sibling to Blemish.
Colin Buttimer
April 2005