''Dead Can Dance'' is the debut studio album by Australian musical act

Dead Can Dance Dead Can Dance are an Australian music duo first established in 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 des ...

. It was released on 27 February 1984 on the

4AD 4AD is a British record label owned by Beggars Group. It was founded in London under the name "Axis" (after the Hendrix album) by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent in 1980 as an imprint of Beggars Banquet Records. The name was changed to 4AD a ...

label.

Background

Dead Can Dance commented on their official website regarding the name of the band and album:

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 symbolic intention of the work, and assumed that we must be "morbid gothic types".

Production

The album was recorded at Blackwing Studios. The musicians who performed on the album were

Brendan Perry Brendan Michael Perry (born 30 June 1959) is a British singer and multi-instrumentalist best known for his work as half of the duo Dead Can Dance with Lisa Gerrard. Early life Perry was born in Whitechapel, London, England, UK, in 1959 to a mot ...

Lisa Gerrard Lisa Germaine Gerrard (; born 12 April 1961) 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 ( ...

, Paul Erikson, James Pinker and

Peter Ulrich Peter Lawrence Ulrich (born 29 August 1958 in Perivale, England) is a multi-instrumentalist songwriter, recording artist and author. Biography He was educated at Vaughan School in West Harrow, Cannon Lane School in Pinner, the John Lyon Sch ...

. The instrumentation consisted of guitars, bass guitar and drums, with added percussion and the very distinct sound of the

yangqin The trapezoidal yangqin () is a Chinese hammered dulcimer, likely derived from the Iranian santur or the European dulcimer. It used to be written with the characters 洋琴 (lit. "foreign zither"), but over time the first character changed t ...

, as played by Gerrard.

Musical style

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

commented on the album's sound: "Bearing much more resemblance to the similarly gripping, dark early work of bands like the Cocteau Twins and

the Cure The Cure are an English rock band formed in 1978 in Crawley, West Sussex. Throughout numerous lineup changes since the band's formation, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter Robert Smith has remained the only constant member. The band's ...

than to the later fusions of music that would come to characterize the duo's sound, ''Dead Can Dance'' is as goth as it gets in many places".

Album cover

The album cover includes a photo of a piece of artwork from

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

on the left side, and on the right, the characters "ΔΞΛΔ CΛΝ ΔΛΝCΞ", which aimed to visually resemble the title "DEAD CAN DANCE".

Release

The album was released by 4AD on 27 February 1984. Some editions included Dead Can Dance's next release, the EP '' Garden of the Arcane Delights'', added onto the end of the album.

Reception

In its retrospective review, AllMusic wrote that, with the album, "Perry and Gerrard created a striking, dour landmark in early-'80s atmospherics".

Touring

The band's touring was limited to Europe during this period.

Track listing

Release history

Personnel

Personnel adapted from ''Dead Can Dance'' liner notes. ;Dead Can Dance *

* Paul Erikson * James Pinker * Scott Roger *

;Production * John Fryer – production

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control Dead Can Dance albums 1984 debut albums Albums produced by John Fryer (producer) 4AD albums Ethereal wave albums Post-punk albums by Australian artists Gothic rock albums by Australian artists