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Rating: The first rumors about Brendan Perry's solo debut began circulating as early as the end of 1994, but “Eye Of The Hunter” only came to light five years later.
This long interval might have led one to think that the first work of the male half of the Dead Can Dance would be a particularly rich and elaborate album, as much as or more than the records created with his adventure companion Lisa Gerrard. Nothing could be further from the truth.
“Eye Of The Hunter” is an intimate, sparse, and surprisingly straightforward album considering the author's past works. The eight tracks on the album are dominated by acoustic guitars and see Perry in the guise of a dark-hued folk singer-songwriter; unsurprisingly, the beautiful cover of Tim Buckley’s “I Must Have Been Blind” blends perfectly with the rest of the songs. The percussion is reduced to a minimum (making a timid appearance only in “The Captive Heart”), with the elaborate orchestrations of the past almost entirely absent, making Perry’s wonderful voice the absolute protagonist, resonating deeper and richer than ever before.
The lyrics are as always polished and introspective and represent the only element of continuity with the past. The initial 1-2-3 of “Saturday’s Child,” “Voyage Of Bran,” and “Medusa” can compete with his best compositions in Dead Can Dance, with “Medusa” in particular undoubtedly one of his personal masterpieces, enhanced by the album's most intricate arrangement and with a bitter and spiteful lyric. “Sloth” and the previously mentioned “I Must Have Been Blind” are the “lighter” tracks of the album, which closes with the lengthy, dreamlike and immensely evocative “Archangel,” where Perry’s voice switches between a reverb-laden falsetto and the dark crooner tones that made him famous.
“Eye Of The Hunter” is not a masterpiece, but I personally believe it is the best solo work produced by the two halves of Dead Can Dance after their breakup, if only because musically it has the courage to detach from what was produced in the past and to seek different paths, whereas Gerrard (as excellent as she is) has essentially continued to move along the same tracks traversed during her collaboration with Brendan Perry.
A dark and introspective work, surely not to be listened to every day, but still of great value, allowing one to see Perry in a different light than the one that made him famous, certainly of interest to Dead Can Dance fans.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
05 I Must Have Been Blind (05:07)
Here I am believing words again
Here I am trying to find your love again
Here I am down on my knees again
Praying for a love we used to know
Both of us know how hard it is to love and let it go
Both of us know how hard it is to go on living that way
But so few know what it means to fall in love
And so few know how hard it is to live without it
Lord I must have been blind
Lord I must have been blind
Lord I must have been blind
Lord I must have been blind
To hold something real and not believe it
To live in her life and never trust it
To give all you know and never feel it
Hold back each day until it dies away
Both of us know how hard it is to love and let it go
Both of us know how hard it is to go on living that way
But so few know what it means to fall in love
And so few know how hard it is to live without it
Lord I must have been blind
Lord I must have been blind
Lord I must have been blind
08 Archangel (07:35)
All love's lost children
Behind us... forgotten
Youth lies broken
Upon the wheel of the machine
Each time we kill their song
Time feeds our memories
We travel through past lives
We are angels
Part devil in disguise
We sow the seeds of our own demise
All love's lost children
Inside us... forgotten
You must open
As the flower greets the sun
To sing their praise with your song
If you turn a blind eye
To the needs of a child innner vision
Then you might just find
That the love you denied will desert you
How long will we sing this song ?
How long must we carry on ?
You can break their will
But they never ever will respect you
If you abuse their bodies
They will never come to love you
How long will we sing this song ?
How long must we carry on ?
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