Nine Horses

Last updated

Nine Horses
Genres Alternative rock, jazz-rock
Years active2005-2007
Labels Samadhi Sound
Members David Sylvian
Burnt Friedman
Steve Jansen
Website ninehorses.com

Nine Horses was a musical collaboration between singer/instrumentalist David Sylvian, his brother and frequent collaborator drummer Steve Jansen, and electronic composer/remixer Burnt Friedman. [1]

Contents

They released the album Snow Borne Sorrow in October 2005, which featured several guest contributors including Norwegian trumpeter Arve Henriksen, Swedish vocalist Stina Nordenstam, and Ryuichi Sakamoto on piano. [2]

January 2007 (December 2006 in Japan) saw the release of the Money for All EP, which featured three new tracks, "Money for All", "Get the Hell Out" and "Birds Sing for Their Lives", alongside remixes and interpretations by Friedman of various tracks from Snow Borne Sorrow. [3]

Background

The album Snow Borne Sorrow, and thus Nine Horses, was the result of the combining of two projects in 2005: collaborations between David Sylvian and Steve Jansen, and between Sylvian and the German composer/programmer Burnt Friedman (initially featuring Jaki Liebezeit).

The Jansen/Sylvian collaboration began much earlier, in late 2002. Sylvian said that "the writing took off in all kinds of directions whilst we searched for common ground, passions, interests". However, progress was slow and in around February or March 2003, Sylvian took time out from the project for six weeks in order to write and record his solo album Blemish . In October 2003, whilst on tour in Europe promoting Blemish, Sylvian and Jansen met Burnt Friedman for the first time in Cologne. Sylvian had listened to and enjoyed Friedman's work and has said that "when the chemistry between Steve and I lacked fireworks in the studio I often thought a third element would be beneficial to the proceedings and oddly enough it was Burnt who’d come to mind during those times. That evening we spoke of working together at some point in the future". [4]

The first collaboration with Friedman saw him remix two tracks, "Blemish" and "Late Night Shopping" for Sylvian's remix album, The Good Son vs. The Only Daughter . Eventually the work with each of Jansen and Friedman coalesced to become a single project and a three-partner group was formed as Nine Horses. The song "A History of Holes" is one of the first to originate from the collaboration between Sylvian and Friedman, with Friedman writing the music and Sylvian the lyrics. In the spring of 2004, Sylvian finished five vocal recordings as a contribution to an album by Friedman featuring Jaki Liebezeit. However, after later hearing Friedman's mixes of the songs, Sylvian was "a little taken aback" as his vocals were at the forefront of these songs which had been "stripped back to their barest bones". He asked Friedman for the files so that he could try reworking them in order to be "built up" and have "greater dynamics, group interaction". Sylvian "made guitar, keyboard, and vocal additions of [his] own" and got Jansen to "replace Jaki's patterns with something else" as well as add percussion. Sylvian also added "male and female backing vocals to a number of the tracks" and "both Steve and Burnt were quick to give approval" to what Sylvian had done. [4] During all of the Nine Horses recording Burnt Friedman was never present with Sylvian and Jansen, his parts were done by exchanging files virtually.

Jansen has since said that Snow Borne Sorrow "took a long time to complete and was later followed by lengthy rehearsals for a tour to promote David’s solo career, again". He also said that "the option not to tour as an unknown Nine Horses was a business decision" and that Nine Horses was "inevitably being run into a dead end". After Nine Horses, Jansen "focused on a solo career and distanced myself from the Samadhi Sound label", but said that he was "glad we got to make that album, as well as an EP, when we did". [5]

Discography

Albums

YearTitleDetailsPeak chart
positions
UK
[6] 		IT
[7]
2005 Snow Borne Sorrow 13723
2007 Money for All
  • Released: 22 January 2007
  • Label: Samadhi Sound
  • Mini-album / EP
——
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

Singles

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japan (band)</span> English new wave band

Japan were an English new wave band formed in 1974 in Catford, South London by David Sylvian, Steve Jansen (drums) and Mick Karn, joined the following year by Richard Barbieri (keyboards) and Rob Dean. Initially a glam rock-inspired band, Japan developed their sound and androgynous look to incorporate electronic music and foreign influences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Sylvian</span> English musician (born 1958)

David Sylvian is an English musician, singer and songwriter who came to prominence in the late 1970s as frontman and principal songwriter of the band Japan. The band's androgynous look and increasingly electronic sound made them an important influence on the UK's early-1980s New Romantic scene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Jansen</span> English musician, composer and producer

Steve Jansen is an English musician, composer and record producer.

Kristina Ulrika Nordenstam, better known by her stage name Stina Nordenstam, is a Swedish singer-songwriter and producer. She is perhaps best known for her song "Little Star", which appears in the Baz Luhrman film Romeo + Juliet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jaki Liebezeit</span> German musician

Jaki Liebezeit was a German drummer, best known as a founding member of experimental rock band Can. He was called "one of the few drummers to convincingly meld the funky and the cerebral".

<i>The Good Son vs. The Only Daughter</i> 2005 remix album by David Sylvian

The Good Son vs. The Only Daughter is a remix album by David Sylvian featuring his previous album Blemish. Despite the title, not all the pieces have been remixed; some songs have been re-recorded with new musicians.

<i>Alchemy: An Index of Possibilities</i> 1985 studio album by David Sylvian

Alchemy: An Index of Possibilities is the second solo studio album by David Sylvian, first released in December 1985 on cassette only as a limited edition. Alchemy is an intermediary album, released between his first solo album Brilliant Trees and his next solo album Gone to Earth, made up of two entirely separate projects recorded 1984 and 1985.

<i>Blemish</i> (album) 2003 studio album by David Sylvian

Blemish is the sixth studio album by British singer-songwriter David Sylvian, released in May 2003 on Sylvian's Samadhisound label.

<i>Snow Borne Sorrow</i> 2005 studio album by Nine Horses

Snow Borne Sorrow is an album by Nine Horses, released in October 2005. Nine Horses is a collaboration between David Sylvian, Steve Jansen and Burnt Friedman.

<i>Plight & Premonition</i> 1988 studio album by David Sylvian and Holger Czukay

Plight & Premonition is the first of two collaborative albums by English musician David Sylvian and German musician Holger Czukay. It was released in March 1988.

<i>Flux + Mutability</i> 1989 studio album by David Sylvian and Holger Czukay

Flux + Mutability is the second collaboration between David Sylvian and Holger Czukay. It was released in September 1989. The music consists of two instrumental tracks improvised by the participants.

Samadhi Sound is an independent record label founded by singer and musician David Sylvian after his departure from Virgin Records in the late nineties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theo Travis</span> British saxophonist, flautist and composer

Theo Travis is a British saxophonist, flautist and composer. He is a member of Soft Machine which he joined in 2006 while the group was still using the "Legacy" suffix and was a member of Gong from 1999 to 2010.

<i>Money for All</i> 2007 studio album by Nine Horses

Money for All is an EP released 2007 by the band Nine Horses, featuring David Sylvian, Steve Jansen and Burnt Friedman. The EP includes three new songs: "Money for All," "Get the Hell Out," and "Birds Sing for Their Lives." The others are remixes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernd Friedmann</span> German musician and producer (born 1965)

Bernd Friedmann is a German musician and producer who works under a variety of project names in the fields of electronic music, dub and jazz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hayden Chisholm</span> New Zealand musician (born 1975)

Hayden Chisholm is a saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist from New Zealand. He performs jazz, improvised music, and contemporary classical music.

<i>Slope</i> (album) 2007 studio album by Steve Jansen

Slope is the debut solo album by drummer Steve Jansen, released in 2007 by Samadhi Sound. The album includes guest musicians and was recorded all over the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Let the Happiness In</span> 1987 single by David Sylvian

"Let the Happiness In" is a song by the English singer-songwriter David Sylvian. It is the first single from his album Secrets of the Beehive.

<i>Sleepwalkers</i> (David Sylvian album) 2010 compilation album by David Sylvian

Sleepwalkers is a compilation album by David Sylvian, released September 2010 by Samadhi Sound.

Exit North is a musical collaboration between former Japan-drummer Steve Jansen, singer Thomas Feiner, piano player Ulf Jansson and multi-instrumentalist/engineer/producer Charlie Storm.

References

  1. ↑ "{ ninehorses.com } Nine Horses". ninehorses.com. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  2. ↑ "{ davidsylvian.com } Nine Horses - "Snow Borne Sorrow"". www.davidsylvian.com. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  3. ↑ "{ davidsylvian.com } Nine Horses - "Money For All"". www.davidsylvian.com. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  4. 1 2 "Interviews". davidsylvian.net. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  5. ↑ "Steve Jansen - Provoking Thought". Innerviews: Music Without Borders. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  6. ↑ "Chart Log UK: Nadanuf - Michael Nyman". www.zobbel.de. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  7. ↑ "italiancharts.com - Italian charts portal". italiancharts.com. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.