David Sylvian
Secrets Of The Beehive

THE REVIEW

David Sylvian and Ryuichi Sakamoto are always described as two complementary artists, as if one contributed to enhancing the other's career and vice versa.
But it is not so, in my opinion Sylvian was nothing more than a tool skillfully used by Sakamoto.

It is no coincidence that I read today that Sylvian's solo career was indeed encouraged by Sakamoto. That there is a sea separating the two is something I say knowingly, after having seen both live.
Sakamoto himself was aware that Sylvian was a good composer and nothing more, and that his solo career without excellent collaborations would surely have failed.

However, Sylvian has something unique, he has a warm and soothing voice, an elegant and rarefied appearance that goes beyond the "dandy": he is perhaps the very essence of the "dandy", with his vaguely retro style of an ambiguous gentleman. Sylvian is also ambitious and loves experimentation, something he has already demonstrated with Japan.

It is from the collaboration between these two artists that "Secrets Of The Beehive" is born. The album is almost entirely acoustic, the arrangements are handled by Sakamoto, and the singing takes the lead.
Sylvian seems to take us on a journey, at sunset, into autumnal melancholy: it is no coincidence that "September" opens the album The sun shines high above / The sounds of laughter / The birds swoop down upon / The crosses of old grey churches / We say that we're in love / While secretly wishing for rain and "Forbidden Colors" closes it My love wears forbidden colours / My life believes in you once again / I'll go walking in circles / While doubting the very ground beneath me / Trying to show unquestioning faith in everything / Here am I, a lifetime away from you.

Between these two marvelous spaces, the reasons for excitement are numerous, the transport of "Orpheus" or the movement of "When Poets Dreamed Of Angels," for example. A masterpiece whose review I would like to see appear in the "evergreen" section when one day it will be on DE-Baser.