David Sylvian - Manafon

[javier]

After a few weeks now, I still can't cope with Rabbit Skinner or Englishman, but apart from those two tracks I would definitely rank Manafon as one of Sylvian's greatest works.

It has literally changed the way I'm listening to music. For the first time I'm really enjoying wild improvised jazz works which before I found inaccessible. I'm appreciating silences and spaces between sounds. I'm appreciating the border between melody and dissonance.

The downside is that almost anything else I put on, I switch off within a few moments as in comparison to Manafon most music sounds so predictable, trivial, unadventurous or unengaging.

A phase I imagine, but a lovely one. After decades of listening to music it's nice to be surprised again.

[Bridget]

The way I see and live my life has changed since I first discovered David Sylvian and Japan, and growing to appreciate Manafon is a new challenge for me. I just have to listen to it and only do that and nothing else. But his voice really gets to my heart so I need some distance sometimes, most of the time it's too much. Anyway, I'm sure it will be very special to me.

[inkinthewell]

Just had time enough to listen to Manafon once this afternoon, and my first reaction was good. I played it on my stereo (through loudspeakers) and I must say that to my ears the voice and the music mixed quite well together, and never did the former seem to boss the latter around.
I really like the way David sings the last two verses of "Snow White In Appalachia", so deep. And when he sung the line "the greatest living englishman" I joined in, but what I sung was "oh I believe in yesterday".

[inkinthewell]

My review was going to be something like: "Oh, where are the good ole Blemish days? David, call Ingrid, be nasty to her over the phone and write a beautiful song about it" but I'm too scared of Baht's trauma therapy, so...
This is not my favourite David Sylvian album. At the moment. Small Metal Gods is the song I like most. It’s beautiful. I loved it from the first time I heard it and I like it more each time. I find everything about it to be simply perfect, from the quiet voices at the start to the last crackle, and the guitar and the bass are superb. The Rabbit Skinner is the track I like the least. It’s just something I’ve already heard, a sort of a new version of The Good Son. All the rest is good, but I wouldn't file it under 'excellent'. I would use the word 'monotonous' (lacking in variety) if it didn't have so many negative sides to it, as there’s nothing I loathe about Manafon, but, SMG excepted, I'm not ravished. Anyway, I’ve heard it only six times, so there’s plenty of time for it to grow on me. And indeed, some songs are slowly flourishing and I've been pleasantly distracted by that drone sound streaming beneath the first part of Emily Dickinson, and someone has reported having heard me hum Manafon.
P.S. When I've finished listening, the first reaction is to press play and start all over again.

[Nicrobliz]

OK, so I've listened to it twice since receiving it in the post this morning.

Perhaps the alternate title for this should have been "Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Slashing Your Own Wrists, But Were Too Afraid To Ask".

I was mildly encouraged by "Small Metal Gods", but it was all downhill after that.

I like improv - I have some reet weird crap in my collection which makes me no stranger to an ensemble improvising (Carla Bley's band at full-throttle, for instance, sounds like a mass nervous breakdown), but the improv here is unimaginative, lazy and dull. I can almost feel the session players' boredom. Did someone say that Sylvian used the Bob Fripp model and that all of the session guys played for free? It certainly sounds like it, too.

Seems like the old adage of "you get what you pay for" has never been more accurate.

It's probably about time for the usual caveat; I love the vast majority of Sylvian's work - he's one of my favourite artists and his music is why I bother coming here. He's rarely, if ever, been one to use his music to raise a smile with the listener...I know and accept that as a major part of his approach. But dear God..."Manafon" makes Bartok sound like The Bay City Rollers.

All around the house tonight, there's been the steady "thwack" sound of mice throwing themselves onto the traps.

For weeks and months, I've fought back the the demon at the back of my mind who, when the words "challenging" and "uncompromising" were bandied about in relation to the new album, whispered nought but "It's 'Blemish MkII', Lawton...don't buy it..." over and over.

The completist in me would have had me buy it anyway.

And hey...the artwork is nice.

Phil, respect!

I think when you're a David Sylvian fan, being open-minded about music is a personal quality by default. I have no problem with the style or concept of 'Manafon' but Phil's review summed up perfectly my dissatisfaction with David's latest work. In addition, if one is not focusing intently on the 'pieces', all the tracks (bar 'Small Metal Gods') sound pretty much the same (although there are occasional music passages that punctuate the recording - saving graces, reminding you that this is not the case).

I usually get irritated when people refer to anything melancholic as something to slash your wrists to but, with 'Manafon' it most certainly is a case of 'Hey, somebody hide the razors!'

David, you're really concerning me now...

[inkinthewell]

I wrote somewhere else that, for me, Blemish was a cathedral. After 4 days of continuous listening I have pictured out what Manafon is: a radiant, blooming, blossoming, ever changing garden.
Look at it absentmindendly from a distance, and you only see a patch of green with red, yellow and blue spots here and there, that might be interesting or not, depending on your mood. But if you take your time, come slowly closer, study the shape of the leafs, count the petals, watch the colours vary from moment to moment, let the different fragrances make you giddy, then you're in for a treat.

[missouriman]

I have not listened to Manafon in a week and I can still hear it. Is that good?

[inkinthewell]

I have not listened to Manafon in a week and I can still hear it. Is that good?

Yes for Manafon, not so much for your own health.

[Haldeman Gracie]

To all who enjoyed the album (can't say this would be effective for those who didn't), I completely recommend avoiding it for a full week. I'm speaking for those of you who have had it on repeat since it came out. Which will be a lot since the album demands (and deserves) much attention.

Put the CD away. Put the Deluxe edition in your Safe Deposit Box. And if it's on your Ipod just scroll past it quickly... speed up when you get to David Soul, that's my advice. Listen to a lot of music in that Manafon Free week (non Sylvian / Japan - we can't hear that voice, not once, and on the off chance you have a Free Improv collection: same rules, put it away). Listen to some crap. Listen to Tori Amos. Listen to some crap Tori Amos (I dunno, The Beekeeper?).

Then... go back to Manafon. I swear to ya, it will sound utterly magnificent and alive in a way it didn't quite manage on consecutive listens #19 - #30.

What are you waiting for? Go get listening to some Kylie!

[qdes]

Deluxe Edition is finally here! I'm so happy.

Now a glass of calvados and let the listening begin.

[missouriman]

The way I see and live my life has changed since I first discovered David Sylvian and Japan, and growing to appreciate Manafon is a new challenge for me. I just have to listen to it and only do that and nothing else. But his voice really gets to my heart so I need some distance sometimes, most of the time it's too much. Anyway, I'm sure it will be very special to me.

Exactly, Bridget. That voice, so close, so defined is capable of getting so far down inside you that it takes root. It just gets better every time, but it isn't on auto-repeat. That would lessen it. You don't guzzle fine wine.

My health is ok by the way, dear Inkie. Though I do hear weird barking sounds sometimes...

[missouriman]

To all who enjoyed the album (can't say this would be effective for those who didn't), I completely recommend avoiding it for a full week. I'm speaking for those of you who have had it on repeat since it came out. Which will be a lot since the album demands (and deserves) much attention.

Put the CD away. Put the Deluxe edition in your Safe Deposit Box. And if it's on your Ipod just scroll past it quickly... speed up when you get to David Soul, that's my advice. Listen to a lot of music in that Manafon Free week (non Sylvian / Japan - we can't hear that voice, not once, and on the off chance you have a Free Improv collection: same rules, put it away). Listen to some crap. Listen to Tori Amos. Listen to some crap Tori Amos (I dunno, The Beekeeper?).

Then... go back to Manafon. I swear to ya, it will sound utterly magnificent and alive in a way it didn't quite manage on consecutive listens #19 - #30.

What are you waiting for? Go get listening to some Kylie!

This makes so much sense to me. I listened to Manafon last night after about 2-3 weeks w/o any Sylvian, just other stuff. "Emily Dickinson" came on. It is staggeringly beautiful. I said to Her Indoors, "Could you imagine a dork like Nick Rhodes EVER making something like this in his lifetime?" She was a Duran fan once, but concurred.

This is the work of genius. Not meaning DS alone. Evan Parker and Fennesz too. It gels in a sublime tone poem; a liturgy to loss. The grief in the sound of the voice tells me that there is hurt in the heart that opened wide to love.

[digimarsh]

I too spent a couple of weeks without listening to Manafon or any DS really, a result of some seriously intense listening prior to that. Then the other day i was alone in the house , i stuck Manafon on at a decent volume and sat back, it sounded even better than before ,the vocal richly filling the room accompanied by an truly amazing backdrop, coupled with a lovely autumn scene from the window it was a greatly fullfilling expierience. Manafon has moved itself to third in my all time DS list behind sotb and trees.,

[Foales Arishes]

My first - yes really! - DS album, and I bought Manafon as a Deluxe Edition too...

I adore this album - for me, it ranks up there with 'Spirit of Eden' & 'Laughing Stock' by Talk Talk, which are two of my favourite albums, and perhaps explains why I come to DS now, so late in his career, as he becomes less ‘pop’ by reaching into more adventurous ways of working...just as Hollis did with Talk Talk.

I have lost count of the number of plays I have given it, but it grows deeper and richer with each one - It truly reveals more with each play, as any great work should. To sit back, a glass of something good in hand, and gaze across stunning autumn countryside, while listening to this is an intense pleasure.

I will get Blemish now, and will also look further back…strange that I shall -perhaps- be more disappointed as I head back through his catalogue, rather opposite to the reaction of those that have followed him through the years, judging by what I have read here and elsewhere.

Personally, I will be saddened if he doesn’t travel further along this particular path he has taken.

[baht habit]

My first - yes really! - DS album, and I bought Manafon as a Deluxe Edition too...

I will get Blemish now, and will also look further back…strange that I shall -perhaps- be more disappointed as I head back through his catalogue, rather opposite to the reaction of those that have followed him through the years, judging by what I have read here and elsewhere.

Personally, I will be saddened if he doesn’t travel further along this particular path he has taken.

How very intriguing. A new fan working their way backwards from Manafon? That is going to be a unique perspective.
May I be bold enough to recommend that you begin with all of Sylvian's SamadhiSound product first? So therefore, before you delve into any releases on the Virgin label, you could first acquire When Loud Weather Buffeted Naoshima (2007), the Nine Horses releases Money For All (2007) and Snow Borne Sorrow (2005), in addition to Blemish (2003).
The Virgin material in reverse order:
Everything And Nothing (2000) Approaching Silence (1999) Dead Bees On A Cake (1999) Damage (1994) The First Day (1993) Rain Tree Crow (1991) Ember Glance - The Permanence Of Memory (1991) Flux + Mutability (1989) Plight And Premonition (1988) Secrets Of The Beehive (1987) Gone To Earth (1986) Alchemy - An Index Of Possibilities (1985) Brilliant Trees (1984)

Actually, my belief is that there won't be all that much disappointment as you first discover the creative spirit and flawless execution which has been consistent throughout all of Sylvian's career.