Having disbanded in 1998, they reunited briefly in 2005 for a world tour and reformed in 2011, releasing a new album (Anastasis) and embarking on several tours.
Dead Can Dance formed in Melbourne, Australia in August 1981 with Paul Erikson on bass guitar, Lisa Gerrard (ex-Microfilm) on vocals, Simon Monroe (Marching Girls) on drums and Brendan Perry (also of Marching Girls) on vocals and guitar. Gerrard and Perry were a couple who met as members of Melbourne's little band scene. In May 1982, the band left Monroe in Australia and moved to London, England, where they signed with alternative rock label 4AD. With the duo, the initial United Kingdom line-up were Paul Erikson and Peter Ulrich.
The group's debut album, Dead Can Dance, was released in February 1984. The artwork, which depicts a ritual mask from New Guinea, "provide a visual reinterpretation of the meaning of the name Dead Can Dance", set in a faux Greek typeface. The album featured "drum-driven, ambient guitar music with chanting, singing and howling", and fit in with the ethereal wave style of label mates Cocteau Twins. They followed with a four-track extended play, Garden of the Arcane Delights in August. AllMusic described their early work as "as goth as it gets" (despite the group themselves rejecting the label), while the EP saw them "plunging into a wider range of music and style".
A shift in sound followed for the Spleen and Ideal album, with more emphasis on strings, brass and drones being used. A quasi spiritual element also emerged on this album, notably on the opening tracks "De Profundis" and "Ascension". Its worth noting that around this time Lisa and Brendan had been doing tours of European Cathedrals, absorbing the ambience which in turn was reflected in the work.
The highlights of the bands career followed with the genre defining album Within The Realm of a Dying Sun, featuring fan favorite "Cantara", which is where the bands Arabic and World music influences began to appear, and the double whammy of "Summoning of the Muse" and "Persephone (The Gathering of Flowers)." Critics at the time were undecided about the album, mainly due to the fact that the pieces were split according to the vocals. Brendan had the first side of the album, where Lisa took over for the latter half.
The Serpent's Egg was the next album and built on the premise set by the previous album, although the album is slightly uneven in quality and a short listen at around 40 minutes. The album is redeemed by the opening and closing pieces "The Host of Seraphim", and Perry's epic "Ullyses".
For the next album Aion, the band slipped back several centuries and recreated working medieval instruments such as the Sackbut, Viol and Hurdy Gurdy for the distinctly Medieval flavor. Included on the album is "Song of the sibyl" a text from 14th century Spain and now a live favorite. Another text appears in the song "Fortune Presents Gifts Not According To The Book".
Into the Labyrinth was the follow up album and was the album that saw Brendan mastering the use of samples and synthesizers and also the album that brought the band's music to American audiences selling over a million copies worldwide. The track "The Ubiquitous Mr Lovegrove" was played across on college radio and was instrumental in the albums success.
Spiritchaser was the seventh studio album for the band and brought about an abrupt upturn in musical style, instead of drawing on the historical past the band drew upon South American and African influences which gave the album a very rhythmic ambience. Considered by some to be the bands weakest album, it features highlights such as the percussive "Nierika" which was the most played track on American college radio for that year, and the epic 9 minute trance inducing "Indus".
A 3 CD retrospective simply called 1981-1998 was issued by 4AD and compiled a comprehensive overview of the bands career, and provided diehard fans with the only finished track from the Spiritchaser follow-up sessions called "The Lotus Eaters".
As a live band is probably where Dead Can Dance have gained their reputation. To put it simply, they were phenomenal. The concerts often featured many improvised pieces that to date have never been recorded in the studio. A live album entitled Toward the Within was released in 1994 and allowed fans unfortunate enough to have not attended concerts the chance to hear a few of these songs. A companion video/DVD of the concert was also released allowing people to see these highly ethereal concerts.
After Dead Can Dance ceased to be a functioning band both Perry and Gerrard embarked upon solo careers. To date, Brendan has released one solo album The Eye of the Hunter and has completed work on a new album, 'Ark', to be released in June 2010, whilst Lisa has been more prolific but with mixed results, releasing two solo albums The Mirror Pool and The Silver Tree. Lisa has also collaborated with other artists, namely Pieter Bourke of the band Soma and Irish composer Patrick Cassidy on the respective albums Duality and Immortal Memory. Lisa has also become a sought after soundtrack artist too after a wave of publicity for the Ridley Scott film Gladiator and continues to release work on a regular basis including soundtrack work on Ali, Layer Cake, and Whale Rider. Peter Ulrich, former percussionist of the band has also released two solo albums, Pathways and Dawns and more recently, Enter the Mysterium.
A series of 31 reunion concerts took place in 2005 in both Europe and North America including two memorable sell out concerts at The Hollywood Bowl and Radio City accompanied by 40 piece orchestras. Many of these concerts were professionally recorded and released as a double CD.
In late 2011, the band announced a reunion World Tour, in order to promote their new album, fittingly titled Anastasis, as it was released on August 9, 2012, 16 years after the group's previous album. Anastasis was well received by critics and is also the first album of the band not released by 4AD Records.
The name "Dead Can Dance" is often misleading. Although this group is quite popular among the goth sub-culture with the name appearing to be inspired by the Danse macabre allegory, it should instead be interpreted as 'giving life to something that was previously inanimate' as Perry said:
"The album artwork [of our self titled first album], a ritual mask from New Guinea, attempted to provide a visual reintrepretation of the meaning of the name "Dead Can Dance." The mask, though once a living part of a tree is dead; nevertheless it has, through the artistry of its maker, been imbued with a life force of its own. 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 symbolism, and assumed that we must be 'morbid gothic types,' a mistake we deplored and deplore...".
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Song of the Sibyl
Dead Can Dance Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Parrá qui haurá fet servici.
Un rei vendrá perpetual
Vestit de nostra carn mortal;
Del cel vindrá tot certament
Per fer del segle jutjament.
Un gran senyal se mostrará:
Lo sol perdrá lo resplendor
La terra tremirá de por.
Aprés se badará molt fort
Amostrant-se de greu conhort,
Mostrar-se han ab crits i trons
Les infernals confusions.
Del cel gran foc davallará,
Com a sofre molt pudirá;
La terra cremará ab furor,
La gent haurá molt gran terror.
Aprés será un fort senyal
D'un terratrémol general;
Les pedres per mig se rompran
I les muntanyes se fondran.
Llavors ningú tindrá talent
D'or, riqueses ni argent,
Esperant tots quina será
La senténcia que es dará.
De morir seran tots sos talents,
Esclafir-los han totes les dents;
No hi haurá home que no plor,
Tot lo mo'n será en tristor.
Los puigs i plans seran iguals,
Alli seran los bons i mals,
Reis, ducs, comtes i barons,
Que de llurs fets retran raons.
Aprés vindrá terriblement
Lo Fill de De'u omnipotent;
De morts i vius judicará;
Qui be' haurá fet alli es parrá.
Los infants qui nats no seran
Dintre ses mares cridaran
I diran tots plorosament:
"Ajuda'ns, De'u omnipotent."
Mare de De'u, pregau per no's,
Puix so'u mare de pecadors,
Que bona senténcia hajam
I paradis possejam.
Vosaltres tots qui escoltau,
Devotament a De'u pregau
De cor ab gran devoció,
Que us porte a salvació.
The lyrics to Dead Can Dance's Song of the Sibyl are in Catalan dialect and describe an apocalyptic prophecy of the end of the world and judgment day. The song speaks of a King who will come and judge the world, arriving from Heaven in human form to carry out the judgment. The song speaks of a great sign that will precede the judgment, the sun losing its brightness, and the earth trembling in fear. The earth will then experience great upheavals, including a great fire that will rain down from the heavens, and the earth itself burning with fury.
The song describes a sensation of great terror among the people, as no one will have any more talismans or resources in the face of the coming judgment. People will be judged to either be good or wicked, no matter their social standing or wealth. The song describes the earth and mountains melting, and all will be judged for their behavior and how much they pleased the Lord. The song invokes the help of the Virgin Mary and urges the listener to pray to God to be taken to salvation.
Overall, the Song of the Sibyl is a powerful reminder to live a pious life and prepare for the end of the world, as no riches or status will protect one from the judgment day.
Line by Line Meaning
Al jorn del Judici
On the day of Judgment
Parrá qui haurá fet servici.
He who has served well will be relieved.
Un rei vendrá perpetual
An eternal king will come
Vestit de nostra carn mortal;
Clothed in our mortal flesh
Del cel vindrá tot certament
He will definitely come from heaven
Per fer del segle jutjament.
To judge the world.
Ans que el Judici no será
Before Judgment Day,
Un gran senyal se mostrará:
A great sign will be shown:
Lo sol perdrá lo resplendor
The sun will lose its brightness
La terra tremirá de por.
The earth will tremble with fear.
Aprés se badará molt fort
After that, there will be a very loud noise
Amostrant-se de greu conhort,
Showing serious consolation,
Mostrar-se han ab crits i trons
Hellish confusion will be shown with cries and thunders.
Les infernals confusions.
The infernal confusions.
Del cel gran foc davallará,
Great fire will descend from the sky,
Com a sofre molt pudirá;
Like one who suffers greatly.
La terra cremará ab furor,
The earth will burn fiercely,
La gent haurá molt gran terror.
People will be very terrified.
Aprés será un fort senyal
After that, there will be a strong sign
D'un terratrémol general;
Of a general earthquake;
Les pedres per mig se rompran
Stones will break in the middle
I les muntanyes se fondran.
And mountains will melt.
Llavors ningú tindrá talent
Then no one will have wealth
D'or, riqueses ni argent,
Of gold, riches or silver,
Esperant tots quina será
All waiting to see
La senténcia que es dará.
The sentence that will be given.
De morir seran tots sos talents,
All talents will die
Esclafir-los han totes les dents;
All teeth will be shattered;
No hi haurá home que no plor,
There will be no man who does not cry,
Tot lo mo’n será en tristor.
All the world will be in sadness.
Los puigs i plans seran iguals,
The hills and plains will be equal,
Alli seran los bons i mals,
There the good and bad will be,
Reis, ducs, comtes i barons,
Kings, dukes, counts and barons,
Que de llurs fets retran raons.
Who will answer for their deeds.
Aprés vindrá terriblement
Then He will come terribly
Lo Fill de De'u omnipotent;
The son of the omnipotent God;
De morts i vius judicará;
He will judge both the dead and the living;
Qui be' haurá fet alli es parrá.
Those who have done well will be relieved.
Los infants qui nats no seran
The infants who will not be born
Dintre ses mares cridaran
Will cry inside their mothers
I diran tots plorosament:
And they will all say mournfully:
“Ajuda’ns, De’u omnipotent.”
"Help us, omnipotent God."
Mare de De'u, pregau per no’s,
Mother of God, pray for us,
Puix so’u mare de pecadors,
Since we are mothers of sinners,
Que bona senténcia hajam
May we have a good sentence,
I paradis possejam.
And possess paradise.
Vosaltres tots qui escoltau,
All of you who listen,
Devotament a De’u pregau
Devoutly pray to God
De cor ab gran devoció,
With great devotion from the heart,
Que us porte a salvació.
May He bring you to salvation.
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Written by: DEAD CAN DANCE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind