Spiritchaser [Slipcase]

Performer: Dead Can Dance
Producer: Lisa Gerrard; Brendan Perry
Distributor: Phantom Import Distributi

Notes: This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players. Dead Can Dance: Lisa Gerrard, Brendan Perry (vocals). Dead Can Dance's SPIRITCHASER continues the band's interest in widening their musical (and lyrical) palate. This album contains Haitian, Native American, and modern dance influences, and even clips a reference from a George Harrison song ("Within You, Without You") on "Indus." The record's sleeve contains a brief discussion of how music is the expression of souls contained within instruments. This theme is oddly, though probably not accidentally, in keeping with the fact that SPIRITCHASER was the last Dead Can Dance record--following it, Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard parted ways to pursue individual careers. Standouts include the spectacular, and lengthy (at around 10 minutes), "Song of the Stars," a section of which is sung in Haitian; the aforementioned "Indus," built on Gerrard's amazing voice; and "Song of the Dispossessed," in which the narrator, through Perry's resonant voice, laments the loss of the old world to the influence of Christianity. The best track here, though, is "The Snake and the Moon," which uses electric guitars and medieval choral vocals to create something that shows that Dead Can Dance are as hip to the contemporary as they are to the out-of-time. SPIRITCHASER is a fitting final chapter to this band's fascinating work.

Entertainment Weekly (7/12/96, p.59) - "...The eclecticism can border on preachy, but their Gaelic vocals and muted polyrhythms produce a haunting ambiance less grating than much world music, and more worldy than most." - Rating: B+ Q (8/96, p.116) - 3 Stars - Good - "...the duo have stripped away Perry's melodramatic Scott Walker-isms and their Tudor madrigals for the more anthropological adventures of tribal beats and global folk textures..." Option (9-10/96, p.101) - "...SPIRITCHASER descends from the duo's usual nether atmospheres into a realm of tribal percussion and chant, casting a comprehensive net over various world music traditions....Lisa Gerrard's voice [is as] gorgeous as always..." NME (Magazine) (6/22/96, p.54) - 7 (out of 10) - "...Dead Can Dance are big on moods....it gets more tribal, more textured. Melody tends to go walkabout, but that's OK because there's always a good chant or bizarre musical instrument to liven things up..."

Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard formed Dead Can Dance in the early 1980s in Australia, moving to London before the release of their self-titled debut in '84. Their unique sound bore a dark, gothic feel, but was far more idiosyncratic than that of the goth-rock hordes. Over the years they incorporated Early Music, electronics, Celtic flavors, and various World Music touches, all held together by the pair's trademark vocal blend. Dead Can Dance split up on a high note following their 1996 album SPIRITCHASER, with Perry and Gerrard both going on to solo work, and the latter singing on numerous film soundtracks.

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