''Eye of the Hunter'' is the debut solo album by

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 ...

, previously the male half of the band

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 ...

. The album was released by

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 ...

on 4 October 1999 in the UK and a day later in the US.

Overview

The album's title is found in the lyrics of the album's first single "Voyage of Bran", wherein a character called Brendan says: "''I live by the river where the old gods still dream of inner communion with the open sea / Through the eye of a hunter in search of a prey, neither beast nor human in my philosophy.''"Lyrics from the CD booklet (sung identically as printed). The song "Sloth" first appeared during concerts with

and appears on the band's 2001 box set '' Dead Can Dance (1981–1998)''. "I Must Have Been Blind" is a cover of a

Tim Buckley Timothy Charles Buckley III (February 14, 1947 – June 29, 1975) was an American musician. His music and style changed considerably through the years. Buckley began his career based in folk music, but his subsequent albums experimented with ...

song, from his 1970 album '' Blue Afternoon''. Perry later covered another song by Buckley, "Dream Letter," which was released the following year on the tribute album '' Sing a Song for You''.

Reception

Critical reception to the album was generally positive.

Track listing

Note: The title "Voyage of Bran" refers to Irish story

The Voyage of Bran The Voyage of Bran ( sga, Immram Brain [], meaning "The Voyage of Bran [son of Febail]") is a medieval seventh- or eighth-century Irish language narrative. Source The date of composition has been assigned to the late 7th or early 8th century, ...

, and "Medusa" to the mythological

Medusa In Greek mythology, Medusa (; Ancient Greek: Μέδουσα "guardian, protectress"), also called Gorgo, was one of the three monstrous Gorgons, generally described as winged human females with living venomous snakes in place of hair. Those ...

Personnel

;Musical *

– vocals, 12-string guitar, electric guitar, mandolin, keyboards :''with'' *Glen Garrett – electric bass guitar, upright bass guitar *Liam Bradley – drums *Martin Quinn – pedal steel guitar *Michael Brunnock – backing vocals on "Saturday's Child" ;Technical *Mastered by Walter Coelho at Masterpiece ;Graphical *Art direction by Brendan Perry *Design by Chris Bigg *Back cover photograph by Dennis Di Cicco *Textures by v23 (

Vaughan Oliver Vaughan Oliver (12 September 1957 – 29 December 2019) was a British graphic designer based in Epsom, Surrey. Oliver was best known for his work with graphic design studios 23 Envelope and v23. Both studios maintained a close relationship with ...

)

References

External links

''Eye of the Hunter''
at

: with audio samples * : with links to artists works
''Eye of the Hunter''
at Dead-can-dance.com: with a Perry quote
''Eye of the Hunter'' lyrics
(official) at DCD Within: with some typos

(fansite) at Dead-can-dance.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Eye of the Hunter 1999 debut albums 4AD albums Brendan Perry albums