Aion (Dead Can Dance album)

Last updated

Aion
Dead Can Dance-Aion (album cover).jpg
Studio album by
Released11 June 1990 (1990-06-11)
8 February 1994 (USA)
Genre Neoclassical dark wave, medieval music
Length36:11
Label 4AD
4AD/Warner Bros. Records
45575 Flag of the United States.svg
Dead Can Dance chronology
The Serpent's Egg
(1988)
Aion
(1990)
A Passage in Time
(1991)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [1]
Chicago Tribune Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [2]
Los Angeles Times Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [3]
Select 4/5 [4]

Aion is the fifth studio album by the Australian band Dead Can Dance, released on 11 June 1990 by 4AD. The first album Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry wrote after the end of their romantic partnership, it was recorded at Perry's new estate, Quivvy Church in Ireland, with additional recording on "The Arrival and the Reunion" and "The End of Words" taking place at Woodbine Street Recording Studios in Leamington Spa. [1]

Contents

On this album, Dead Can Dance explored early music to a greater degree, including medieval music and Renaissance music, as Perry noted, "synonymous with the Bosch period"; this included pieces like the 14th-century Italian dance instrumental ("Saltarello") and 16th-century Catalan ballad ("The Song of the Sibyl"), lyrics from 17th-century Spanish baroque poet Luis de Góngora ("Fortune Presents Gifts Not According to the Book"), and instrumentation such as hurdy-gurdy and viols. [5] [6] The male soprano David Navarro Sust contributed vocals to tracks 1 and 7.[ citation needed ]

The album cover shows a detail from the Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch's triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights (specifically, its central "Earth" panel).

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."The Arrival and the Reunion"1:38
2."Saltarello"2:33
3."Mephisto"0:54
4."The Song of the Sibyl"3:45
5."Fortune Presents Gifts Not According to the Book"6:03
6."As the Bell Rings the Maypole Spins"5:16
7."The End of Words"2:05
8."Black Sun"4:56
9."Wilderness"1:24
10."The Promised Womb"3:22
11."The Garden of Zephirus"1:20
12."Radharc"2:48

Personnel

Personnel adapted from Aion liner notes.

Dead Can Dance

Additional personnel

Charts

Chart performance for Aion
Chart (1990)Peak
position
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [7] 64

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dead Can Dance</span> British-Australian music duo

Dead Can Dance are an Australian neoclassical darkwave band from Melbourne. Currently composed of Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry, the group formed in 1981. They relocated to London the following year. Australian music historian Ian McFarlane described Dead Can Dance's style as "constructed soundscapes of mesmerising grandeur and solemn beauty; African polyrhythms, Gaelic folk, Gregorian chant, Middle Eastern music, mantras, and art rock."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisa Gerrard</span> Australian musician, singer and composer

Lisa Germaine Gerrard is an Australian musician, singer and composer who rose to prominence as part of the music group Dead Can Dance with music partner Brendan Perry. She is known for her unique singing style technique (glossolalia), influenced by her childhood spent in multicultural areas of Melbourne. She has a dramatic contralto voice and has a vocal range of three octaves.

<i>Dead Can Dance</i> (album) 1984 studio album by Dead Can Dance

Dead Can Dance is the debut studio album by Australian musical act Dead Can Dance. It was released on 27 February 1984 on the 4AD label.

<i>Duality</i> (Lisa Gerrard and Pieter Bourke album) 1998 studio album by Lisa Gerrard and Pieter Bourke

Duality is a collaborative album by Lisa Gerrard and Pieter Bourke released in 1998. It was Lisa Gerrard's second post-Dead Can Dance album after The Mirror Pool from 1995. Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry released their last album in 1996 and had officially disbanded Dead Can Dance earlier in 1998.

<i>Spleen and Ideal</i> 1985 studio album by Dead Can Dance

Spleen and Ideal is the second studio album by Australian band Dead Can Dance. It was released on 25 November 1985 by 4AD. The album spearheaded the group's sonic transition from their post-punk and gothic rock-influenced roots towards a neoclassical dark wave style.

<i>Within the Realm of a Dying Sun</i> 1987 studio album by Dead Can Dance

Within the Realm of a Dying Sun is the third studio album by Australian band Dead Can Dance. It was released on 27 July 1987 by 4AD.

<i>The Serpents Egg</i> (album) 1988 studio album by Dead Can Dance

The Serpent's Egg is the fourth studio album by the Australian band Dead Can Dance, released on 24 October 1988 by record label 4AD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brendan Perry</span> British singer and multi-instrumentalist (born 1959)

Brendan Michael Perry is a British singer and multi-instrumentalist best known for his work as half of the duo Dead Can Dance with Lisa Gerrard.

<i>Toward the Within</i> 1994 live album by Dead Can Dance

Toward the Within is the first live album by Australian band Dead Can Dance, released on 24 October 1994 by 4AD. It contains 15 songs, of which only four appeared on their previous albums, and two of which were later re-recorded and included on Lisa Gerrard's first solo album, The Mirror Pool. The others previously existed only in live performances and unofficial bootlegs, but were not officially released until Toward the Within. Along with Perry and Gerrard were a number of musicians who had performed with them on other occasions.

<i>The Mirror Pool</i> 1995 studio album by Lisa Gerrard

The Mirror Pool is Lisa Gerrard's first solo album, released by 4AD in 1995.

<i>Spiritchaser</i> 1996 studio album by Dead Can Dance

Spiritchaser is the seventh studio album by Dead Can Dance, and would prove to be the last before the duo reunited fourteen years later for Anastasis. It expands on its exploration of world music, and like Into the Labyrinth, was recorded at Quivvy Church, Brendan Perry's personal studio in Ireland.

<i>Into the Labyrinth</i> (Dead Can Dance album) 1993 studio album by Dead Can Dance

Into the Labyrinth is the sixth studio album by Australian band Dead Can Dance, released on 13 September 1993, by 4AD. It marked a strong shift from their previous albums, putting ethnic music influences at the forefront, as would be the case in the later albums. It was their first album completed on their own without the aid of guest musicians, and their first album to have a major-label release in the US, thanks to a distribution deal that 4AD had with Warner Bros. Records. It featured the single "The Ubiquitous Mr Lovegrove". Into the Labyrinth was a major success, selling more than 500,000 copies worldwide.

<i>Dead Can Dance (1981–1998)</i> 2001 compilation album by Dead Can Dance

Dead Can Dance (1981–1998) (2001) is a four-disc box set, containing three CDs of music spanning Dead Can Dance's career and a DVD of their 1994 video release Toward the Within.

<i>Garden of the Arcane Delights</i> 1984 EP by Dead Can Dance

Garden of the Arcane Delights is the first EP by Australian band Dead Can Dance. It was released in August 1984 on record label 4AD. The tracks were later added to Dead Can Dance's self-titled debut album when it was re-released on CD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Astrid Williamson</span> Musical artist

Astrid Williamson is a Scottish musician, composer, and songwriter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hector Zazou</span> French composer and record producer (1948–2008)

Hector Zazou was a prolific French composer and record producer who worked with, produced, and collaborated with an international array of recording artists. He worked on his own and other artists' albums, including Sandy Dillon, Mimi Goese, Barbara Gogan, Sevara Nazarkhan, Carlos Núñez, Italian group PGR, Anne Grete Preus, Laurence Revey, and Sainkho since 1976.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Ulrich</span> British songwriter and recording artist

Peter Lawrence Ulrich is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, recording artist and author.

<i>Anastasis</i> (album) 2012 studio album by Dead Can Dance

Anastasis is a 2012 studio album by the British-Australian band Dead Can Dance. It is the eighth studio album by the band and the first after Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard disbanded in 1998. It was officially released on 13 August 2012 by PIAS Recordings, 16 years after the group's last album, Spiritchaser. It is also the band's first album since it left 4AD. "Anastasis" is the Greek word for "resurrection".

"Hungry" is a song recorded by American singer Fergie, featuring guest vocals from American rapper Rick Ross. It was released officially on August 25, 2017, as a promotional single from Fergie's second studio album, Double Dutchess. Although the song was officially released in August 2017, Fergie began teasing the song in June 2016, posting "Hungry " and "Hungry ". Musically, the song is a hip hop/pop track with a "stuttering beat" and Middle Eastern elements. The track contains a sample of Dead Can Dance's 1987 song "Dawn of the Iconoclast".

<i>Dionysus</i> (album) 2018 studio album by Dead Can Dance

Dionysus is the ninth studio album by the British-Australian band Dead Can Dance, officially released on 2 November 2018 by PIAS Recordings, six years after the group's last album, Anastasis.

References

  1. 1 2 Raggett, Ned. "Aion – Dead Can Dance". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 28 July 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  2. Popson, Tom (21 September 1990). "The Cure Meets The Banshees In The Glove". Chicago Tribune . Archived from the original on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  3. Cromelin, Richard (29 September 1990). "In the Underground, Dead Can Dance". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on 17 August 2023. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  4. Terry, Nick (July 1990). "Slavs to the Rhythm". Select . No. 1. p. 90.
  5. "Dead Can Dance". Archived from the original on 22 March 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  6. "Medievalism and Exoticism in the Music of Dead Can Dance - Medievalists.net". Archived from the original on 24 March 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  7. "Dutchcharts.nl – Dead Can Dance – Aion" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 29 August 2023.