David Sylvian
Dead Bees On a Cake

THE REVIEW

David Sylvian appears and disappears without making much noise, yet leaving a mark with unique works. Having grown up with Japan and matured solo, it's difficult to say which Album is the most beautiful, but “Dead Bees on a Cake” manages to captivate with its astonishing and indescribable “I Surrender”, 10 minutes of repeated poetry. Sylvian, very reserved and much appreciated by those with a fine musical palate, does not like interviews and continuous concerts, yet he still manages to keep the time steady over the years. Sylvian sweet and simple narrator of enchanted tales with an oriental fragrance blended with the West, his Albums are breathtaking, becoming hard to find, and brought back to the market thanks to the highly demanded reprints; his collaborations are always remarkable, like his right-hand man Ryuichi Sakamoto, and then Brian Eno, Robert Fripp, Bill Nelson….

In this Album, we find refinement and brilliance in the sound, the lyrics touch on the theme of religion and familial warmth. It's a dream that can isolate you from reality and take you to a stratospheric dimension beyond everyday life. It’s an endlessly internal journey, real and imaginary, to discover and savor, to traverse and remember fondly over the years. One must sit comfortably and let go, like being carried by the flow of a river at full capacity where the atmosphere will flow into a vast, calm lake. “Surrender,” as I said before, is a unique warm tenderness that must never end. The tracks range from new wave to jazz to ethnic music to blues and new age, the use of acoustic and electronic instruments blended creates the perfect environment for this wonderful journey of pleasure.