Robert Fripp

Bringing Down the Light

‘revelation’

The months before Sylvian/Fripp first stepped into the public gaze were dominated for Robert Fripp by a dispute with his management company, EG. ‘From April ’91 to March ’92, when I first played in Japan with David Sylvian and Trey Gunn, that was virtually full time, my life. Miserable. I’m dying…No artist can stand and fight something like this, because you give up two or three years of your career, at the least. It brought me close to bankruptcy, because of instead of working, I spent a year purely dealing with it.’

Burning Bridges

‘our influences on our sleeve’

Richard Barbieri, Mick Karn and David Sylvian were all classmates at Catford Boys school in South London. Karn and Sylvian were friends, their surnames then Michaelides and Batt, the latter’s home being ‘close to the school,’ as Mick recalled, ‘so we would go there together for lunch, with his brother Steven Batt bringing a friend and joining us.

Alphabet Angel

‘unconditional love’

At the peak of Japan’s popularity in 1982, David Sylvian was posed a question during an interview with The Face: ‘Do you like children?’ The 24-year old’s response was: ‘I hate children. Children in airplanes is my biggest hate, I just cannot stand having children in such close contact and not being able to get away from them.’ Whilst some might sympathise regarding experiences when flying, Sylvian’s outspokenness reminds me how young he and his fellow band-members were at the height of their success, and how they had existed within a relatively insular world to that point.

Showing the Wound (A Will to Health) – Steel Cathedrals

‘the first step in a new approach’

‘This short film was shot in two days of November 1984 in and around the outskirts of Tokyo, Japan. A large part of the music was completed during that same month and recorded over a period of three days. I later updated the material in London, in an attempt to elaborate on the theme started earlier in Japan, and to further improve the quality of the soundtrack.’
David Sylvian, August 1985

Answered Prayers

‘more than a fascination’

Eight Days a Week was an arts review programme broadcast on BBC2 on which host Robin Denselow discussed the latest music, movies and books with a small invited panel. The show had a relatively short run in 1983 and 1984, but that timing allowed for the release of David Sylvian’s debut solo LP, Brilliant Trees, to be a subject of discussion. Among the guests that evening was former Be-Bop Deluxe front-man and guitarist, Bill Nelson.

Lucrecia’s new album A Danger to Ourselves is out now. All tracks produced by Lucrecia Dalt & David Sylvian, mixed by David Sylvian.

Sylvian also contributes vocal and feedback guitar to ‘Cosa Rara’ and electric guitar solo for ‘Covenstead Blues’:

Second edition repress of ‘Cosa Rara (feat. David Sylvian)’ with alternative artwork. Note that this vinyl also contains an extended mix of the ‘dopamine dub’ by Matias Aguayo, featuring David Sylvian (i.e. a different version from the first single release):

Further information sometimes comes to light after an article is published. The following pieces have recently been updated with new material:

March 2026
A Fire in the Forest – added quote from David Sylvian about the imagery of the forest fire.
p:Machinery – added quote from Holly Johnson about being around the studio with Propaganda and David Sylvian.
The Ink in the Well – added quote from Anton Corbijn about the video.
Red Guitar – added quote from engineer Peter Williams about introducing Mark Isham to the sessions and recording him for Brilliant Trees. Also added quote from Anton Corbijn about the video.