Japanese Import
2003
Blemish
About This Album
The fractured, stark yin to Dead Bees on a Cake's tranquil, sensuous yang, Blemish is an unforeseen detour taken by David Sylvian, who has made eight of his most bare, anguished, and intense songs, all of which are neither pleasant nor the least bit settling. For half of the album, Sylvian is completely alone, accompanied only by his own guitar and electronic treatments. On the others, he is joined by either Derek Bailey or Christian Fennesz, two guitarists with indispensable roles. The opening title track sets the tone, with heavily echoed noise fibers warping and reverberating for nearly 14 minutes. The effects swell and recede at a disquieting but sunken volume, while Sylvian's up-front voice -- more stripped and vulnerable than it was in Japan's "Ghosts" -- slips in lines like "I fall outside of her," "Give me one more chance to do things right," and "Life's for the taking, so they say -- take it away." Bailey's improvised work appears in three songs and is most complementary during "The Good Son," in which his prickles and sudden spasms carry and push, rather than support, Sylvian's voice. "A Fire in the Forest," the album's own "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," lets the listener out with a battered sense of optimism.
Track List (try tracks 1,4,6 and 8)

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