Ten-CD portrait of an artist at work.
Reinventing one’s processes in search of new stimuli and direction is something most artists do at some point in their careers. For David Sylvian, the end of his long-term stint with Virgin in 2002 and the setting up of his own Samadhisound label in 2003 was a useful convergence that saw him embark on a different method of songwriting when working with renowned avant-guitarist and free jazz pioneer Derek Bailey for his label’s debut album, Blemish. Bailey’s spiky inventions are akin to poking a stick into the turning wheel of the artist’s imagination, deliberating and interrupting the flow of Sylvian’s usual way of working, provoking strange dissonances and embarking on new exploratory tangents.
That kind of provocation can be said of most of…
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Prog (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 143