Where can Sylvian go from here?

[Melaszka]

I never have given a flying fig about his marriage so I honestly never gave it a thought when I first listened to blemish. In truth, I was much too stunned from the minimalistic musical content and overall lack of melody to pay any attention at all to the lyrical content. I know that I have documented my first impression of blemish to the point of ad nauseum, but here I go again---the first thing I thought was something along the lines of 'oh my my, Sylvian's gone mad with a nasty case of cabin fever from the New England winter... ala Jack Nicholson in The Shining'. The only thought I had pertaining to Chavez is that she may have well ended up in the terrifying predicament that Shelly Duval's character had to endure in the movie.

I really wish I had the musical knowledge and the technical vocabulary to approach Sylvian's work the way you do. I suppose I'm painfully aware that I respond to the music on an instinctive and emotional level only and have to resort to girly phrases like "the floaty bit" or "the bit that goes der-der-der" to talk about it! But that's what I love about this website - it's a one-stop shop where you can get technical analysis and girly gossip, and so much else in between.

What I love about David's music is the emotional sincerity that gives it a depth and a poignancy that nothing else has for me musically. Yes, some of the stuff isn't autobiographical ("The Boy With The Gun"? "Forbidden Colours"?) and in much of it he's probably exaggerating and adapting his own experience (as he confessed he did on "Blemish"- he's said that he took his real feelings as a starting point only, but then pushed it far further), but most of it, both lyrically and musically, seems to have such emotional truth behind it that it just shocks me, that anyone could be willing to strip themselves that bare in front of a few thousand strangers.

I don't care what he does next, but I'd hate him to lose that emotional sincerity. The two equally worst things he could do, in my view, would be either (a) to play safe and give the fans more of the same to please them, not himself or (b) to make an album that is avant-garde purely for the sake of being experimental and innovative (rather than because that is the form that best expresses what he has to say)

Anyway, I'll stop blahing on. Happy Christmas, everybody.

[Burnsjed]

I have to admit to not giving Sylvian's marriage any thought when I first listened to Blemish to.
In fact it wasn't to much later at a the concert in London when a disgruntled fan told me that there were rumours of a break-up in his marriage that I realised what his lyrics were about.
I to was completely shocked by the direction Blemish had took, especially given how vanilla I had found DBOAC, to look that deeply in to his lyrics.

I must confess to paying a lot less attention to the physical lyrics then the vocal melody, maybe that is partly due to the fact that I gave up years ago to trying to work out what he was singing about, as it was always completely wrong, and invariably something that I wouldn't have even contemplated.

I tend to treat the vocals more as another instrument, but that s just me, either that or I am just to bloody lazy!

[Melaszka]

I have to admit to not giving Sylvian's marriage any thought when I first listened to Blemish to.
In fact it wasn't to much later at a the concert in London when a disgruntled fan told me that there were rumours of a break-up in his marriage that I realised what his lyrics were about.
I to was completely shocked by the direction Blemish had took, especially given how vanilla I had found DBOAC, to look that deeply in to his lyrics.

I must confess to paying a lot less attention to the physical lyrics then the vocal melody, maybe that is partly due to the fact that I gave up years ago to trying to work out what he was singing about, as it was always completely wrong, and invariably something that I wouldn't have even contemplated.

I tend to treat the vocals more as another instrument, but that s just me, either that or I am just to bloody lazy!

Ah, maybe it was just me, then! In case I come across as a card-carrying girl, though, I'd like to emphasise that it's not that I totally obsessed about his marriage when I first heard "Blemish" - it's just that the bleakness of both the lyrics and music suggested to me that a really radical emotional shift had taken place in his life, and it crossed my mind it was a marriage break-up. I didn't spend hours "interpreting" the lyrics or anything.

[Burnsjed]

You wern't alone, a lot of people put 2 and 2 together and came to the same conclusion.
Don't feel that it makes you a obsessed fan or anything, maybe you were just paying more attention!

[krausy]

Special thanks to Simon P and Mel for your defense. Very appreciated.

I think that in 2007 alot of ideas were put in perspective for me regarding Mr. Sylvian and his work. I may not comment on these ideas in a manner that everyone agrees with. I do know this: David Sylvian is a man, who just happens to be good looking, and who is extremely talented, and whose work touches my heart and soul. It is unfortunate that he chose not to share that work with those of us in the US that could not travel to him. That was his decision, but I don't have to agree with it. It is not going to change how I feel about his work. I also don't really give a flying flip what he thinks of me or any of his fans. Unfortunately for him he lost control over that when he released his work upon the world starting all the way back in 1977-78, which I understand is some of the work he would rather disown, but I find quite enjoyable, as well as all of his other work.

No one here has to agree with anyone. No one certainly has to agree with me, and I certainly don't have to agree with you. Let's live our lives, and believe what we want. And by all means, have a safe and happy and peaceful 2008. I do love my Japan/Sylvian family---you are some of the coolest people on the planet.

[Burnsjed]

Amen