Japan, which also included Mick Karn, Rob Dean, Richard Barbieri and Sylvian's brother Steve Jansen, started out as a confusing hybrid rock/sleaze outfit in the mould of David Bowie and The New York Dolls. Their music quickly evolved as, at least to begin with, they drew heavily on the influence of Roxy Music's art rock stylings. Their visual image developed in parallel and the band were (unwillingly) tagged as forerunners of the New Romantic movement.
Japan recorded five studio albums between March 1978 and November 1981. Their biggest hit single, the minimalist Ghosts, which reached the Top 5 in the UK charts in 1982, was a clear pointer to Sylvian's future direction. After a successful tour, the band split in late 1982, and Sylvian embarked upon a solo career.
Around the time of Sylvian's first solo album he collaborated with 坂本龍一 (Ryuichi Sakamoto) on the soundtrack music for the Nagisa Oshima film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), which produced a Top 20 hit single, Forbidden Colours.
Sylvian's debut solo album, the jazz and ambient-influenced Brilliant Trees (1984), met with critical acclaim and yielded the single Red Guitar, another Top 20 hit. Guest artists included Jon Hassell and Holger Czukay. His follow-up was an instrumental EP Alchemy which cemented his drift away from commercial pop
The EP was in turn followed by the double album Gone to Earth (1986), which flouted convention (and perhaps commercial wisdom) by featuring one record of songs (predominantly atmospheric ballads) and one consisting almost entirely of ambient instrumental tracks. Guest artists included guitarists Robert Fripp and Bill Nelson.
His third album, Secrets of the Beehive (1987), was more acoustic and oriented towards somber, emotive ballads laced with string arrangements by 坂本龍一 (Ryuichi Sakamoto). It yielded one of Sylvian's most well-received songs, Orpheus, and was supported by his first solo tour, 1988's "In Praise of Shamans". Sylvian's touring band included ex-Japan bandmates Jansen and Barbieri along with trumpeter Mark Isham, bassist Ian Maidman and guitarists David Torn and Robbie Aceto.
Never one to conform to commercial expectations, Sylvian then collaborated on several ambient music projects with artists including Holger Czukay and Russell Mills.
In 1991, a highly-anticipated Japan reunion (excluding Rob Dean) ended in acrimony. Sylvian insisted on calling the project and the album Rain Tree Crow, to the dismay of both his label Virgin Records (who were hoping for a hit "comeback" album) and his former bandmates. Guitarists Bill Nelson, Phil Palmer and Michael Brook augmented the quartet for the recording of the album.
In late 1991, Robert Fripp approached Sylvian and asked him to be part of a new King Crimson. Sylvian declined and instead suggested they work on a future collaboration resulting in the release of The First Day.
A period of relative musical inactivity followed, during which time Sylvian moved to the United States. Eventually in 1999, Sylvian released Dead Bees on a Cake. It showed the most eclectic influence of all his recordings, ranging from soul music to jazz fusion to Eastern spiritual chants, and most of the songs' lyrics reflecting Sylvian's inner peace with his marriage (to the wonderful poet/singer Ingrid Chavez), family and beliefs. Guest artists included longtime friend 坂本龍一 (Ryuichi Sakamoto), as well as Talvin Singh, Marc Ribot, Kenny Wheeler and Bill Frisell.
Sylvian parted ways with Virgin and launched his own independent label, Samadhi Sound. Sylvian experimented alone with treated sounds made from his guitar and computer. The results were recorded during February of 2003. A few months later, he released the album Blemish. The disc was stark in its sound and content. The lyrical subject matter dealt primarily with the impending dissolution of Sylvian's marriage. In 2005 The Good Son vs The Only Daughter was released, which was comprised of remixes of tracks from Blemish.
With the conclusion of "A Fire In The Forest Tour" in 2004, work resumed on a joint project between Sylvian and Jansen. Yet the course of the album took on a completely new tone after Sylvian decided to add keyboardist/vibraphonist/programmer Burnt Friedman to the proceedings and make him an equal partner in the collaboration. The band name of Nine Horses was adopted and the CD, titled Snow Borne Sorrow, was released in October of 2005. The sound was a return to more traditional avenues for Sylvian after the radical departure he took with Blemish. Elements of avant-garde jazz, pop, folk and electronic music were all blended together
Nine Horses' Money For All EP was released in 2006, which included new material as well as Burnt Friedman remixes of songs selected from their first disc.
News on Sylvian's website was released in March stating that "We're preparing for the release of David’s new album Manafon. It’s a powerfully bold, uncompromising work featuring contributions from Evan Parker, John Tilbury, Keith Rowe, Christian Fennesz, Otomo Yoshihide, and many more."
David Sylvian's official website: www.davidsylvian.com
Krishna Blue
David Sylvian Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
At dead of night
The mood is of courtship
The final fight
She's all that I need
All that I am
The voice of compassion inside the man
The madness begins
I'll follow you down
I'll follow you back in
She's here in the lifelines
In every curve
Suspended in silence
Between each word
It's all in the way that she moves
The grace and the light that will see me through
It's coming true
She's prising the rope from my hands
The fear and the hopes that I held onto
It's coming true
Colour the river I swim back to you
Krishna blue
Waist deep in water
She starts to sing
The voice is familiar
And draws me in
She's lighting the fires
I dowsed by hand
Erasing the figure drawn in sand
You open the gates
The madness begins
I follow you down
I follow you back in
And here in the darkness
The boundary gone
The flame is alive
And burning strong
It's all in the way that she moves
The grace and the light that will see me through
It's coming true
Colour the river I swim back to you
Krishna blue
In the softest belly
And the warmest heart
In your open hands
I lay my head
In the never ending
I fall apart
In the silent forest
And the brilliant red
And through the stream of words
There comes a sound
And I listen
Child like
To her voice
Spellbound
It's all in the way that she moves
The grace and the light that will see me through
It's coming true
She's prising the rope from my hands
The fear and the hopes that I held onto
It's coming true
Colour the river I swim back to you
Krishna blue
David Sylvian's song Krishna Blue is a deeply romantic and spiritual piece, centred around an encounter with a mysterious woman, who represents both the singer's emotional needs and his connection to the divine. The lyrics describe the woman's presence in the snowfall and dead of night, setting a mood of romance and danger. She is all that the singer needs and all that he is, representing both his earthly and spiritual aspirations. The woman's voice of compassion is also described as 'inside the man', indicating that she is a part of him, and perhaps suggesting that he is in touch with his feminine side.
The lyrics go on to describe the woman's power to open gates and unleash madness, but also to bring grace and light that will see the singer through. The central image of 'Krishna blue' represents a state of deep spiritual connection and surrender to the divine, a colour associated with the god Krishna in Hindu mythology. The final stanza describes the singer's surrender to the woman and to the divine, as he falls apart and lays his head in her open hands, listening to her voice spellbound.
Overall, Krishna Blue is a complex and poetic tribute to the power of love and spirituality to heal and transform us.
Line by Line Meaning
She's here in the snowfall
She is present in the falling snow
At dead of night
During the middle of the night
The mood is of courtship
The atmosphere suggests a romantic relationship
The final fight
The last struggle to overcome a challenge
She's all that I need
This person is everything I require
All that I am
This person makes up my entire being
The voice of compassion inside the man
This individual is empathetic and understanding
If you open the gates
If you allow entry
The madness begins
Chaos and insanity will ensue
I'll follow you down
I will come with you
I'll follow you back in
I will return with you
She's here in the lifelines
This person is present in every aspect of my existence
In every curve
In every twist and turn of life
Suspended in silence
Quietly hanging in the moment
Between each word
In the space between verbal expression
It's all in the way that she moves
This person's movements are significant
The grace and the light that will see me through
Their elegance and warmth will guide and protect me
It's coming true
What was once a dream is now a reality
She's prising the rope from my hands
This person is freeing me from my constraints
The fear and the hopes that I held onto
My anxieties and aspirations are being released with this person's help
Colour the river I swim back to you
Paint the waterway that leads me to you
Krishna blue
The color of the Hindu deity Krishna, symbolizing divinity and wisdom
Waist deep in water
Standing in water up to the middle of the torso
She starts to sing
This person begins to vocalize
The voice is familiar
The sound is recognizable
And draws me in
And pulls me closer
She's lighting the fires
She is starting the flames
I doused by hand
I extinguished by myself
Erasing the figure drawn in sand
Removing the image traced in the sand
And here in the darkness
Now, in the night
The boundary gone
The limit is no more
The flame is alive
The fire still exists
And burning strong
And is thriving
In the softest belly
In the most tender part of the body
And the warmest heart
In the kindest emotions
In your open hands
In the palms of one's hands
I lay my head
I place my head there
In the never ending
In the perpetual
I fall apart
I break down
In the silent forest
In the quiet woods
And the brilliant red
And the bright shade of red
And through the stream of words
And within the dialogue
There comes a sound
A noise can be heard
And I listen
And I pay attention
Child like
In a manner reminiscent of childhood
To her voice
To her vocal tone
Spellbound
Completely captivated
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