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Dead Can Dance is a band comprising Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry. Formed in Melbourne in 1981 and initially based in Australia, it disbanded temporarily in 1998 and reunited for a world tour in 2005.
Career After being relatively unsuccessful in Australia, Gerrard and Perry moved to London, where after one year they signed up to alternative rock label 4AD Records, a legendary label on the alternative music scene. They quickly became one of the most important bands on the label. They continued to work closely together until the late 1990s when they started to grow apart. Gerrard returned to Australia, while Perry moved to Ireland, where he bought an old church, Quivy Church, where he lives and works. It is speculated that the distance between the members was an influence in their eventual break-up, although Perry himself said that distance helped in maintaining a certain individual freedom in creativity. Assigning a musical genre to Dead Can Dance is difficult, as its style is particularly eclectic. However, its early work could be considered "darkwave". In their later work, including and subsequent to the release entitled The Serpent's Egg, Dead Can Dance would take ancient or various musics from around the world as primary sources, with Gerrard singing glossolalia, giving it a very distinctive style. As a result, their later albums sound quite different from the first three. Various sources have labelled those latter releases as neo-classical, ethereal or dark world music. The name "Dead Can Dance" means putting life back into something that is dead, or no longer in use. The instruments that are used are either ancient, forgotten or no longer desirable to most musicians. Another understanding of the name is the idea of giving a life to the inanimate, as Perry said: "The album artwork of their self titled first album, a ritual mask from New Guinea, attempted to provide a visual reintrepretation of the meaning of the name "Dead Can Dance." The mask, though once a living part of a tree is dead; nevertheless it has, through the artistry of its maker, been imbued with a life force of its own. To understand why we chose the name, think of the transformation of inanimacy to animacy.... Think of the processes concerning life from death and death into life. So many people missed the inherent symbolism, and assumed that we must be 'morbid gothic types,' a mistake we deplored and deplore..." ** Albums Live albums (limited editions) EPs Promotional CDs Compilations Contributions Movie scores 1989) A 1998 follow-up album to Spiritchaser was planned, but the band separated before it was largely realized. One song that was to have appeared on it was fully recorded in the studio and is entitled "The Lotus Eaters." Though the album was never completed, "The Lotus Eaters" was eventually released on the box set Dead Can Dance (1981-1998) as well as the 2-disc Wake. In addition, many unofficial live bootlegs exist of concerts spanning their career, which contain several rare songs that were only performed live. Though Toward the Within is their only official live album, Dead Can Dance released limited edition recordings of 13 shows from their 2005 European tour, as well as a compilation entitled Selections from Europe 2005. These concerts were recorded and released by The Show. Live performances Contributions There also exist many unofficial bootlegged recordings of Dead Can Dance concerts recorded throughout their career. See also | |||||||||||||||||||||
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