High Wire Music
2006
The Silver Tree
About This Album
One listen to Lisa Gerrard's The Silver Tree (originally available only on iTunes and now as an Australia-only import) is enough to convince anybody -- who isn't already convinced -- that there's a very specific reason she has been courted by directors to compose soundtracks. There are 13 tracks here, full of wispy ambient soundscapes on top of which the former Dead Can Dance vocalist places her almost otherworldly gift of a voice. Sung nearly as prayers or meditative mantras, Gerrard employs monosyllabic glimpses of other languages -- and occasionally English -- to create her own tapestry of dreams. Some may be tempted to call this "new age" music, but it's so much more melancholy than much of what passes for that trash, and it's nearly sacred in its approach to articulation, creating the feeling in places ("Come Tenderness," "The Sea Whisperer," and "Abwoon," to name a few) that she is actually singing inside a cathedral. In other places, such as "Wandering Star" and "Serenity," her voice offers a drone approach that is as subtle -- yet powerful -- as her instrumentation. In "Sword of the Samurai," the dissonance of both the sonic wash and her rumbling contralto creates tension and a near frightful intensity.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4 and 12)

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