Ryuichi Sakamoto

I Measure Every Grief I Meet

‘a piercing Comfort it affords’

I have written before on this site about the impact of attending the Punkt festival in Kristiansand, Norway, for the first time in 2011, drawn there by David Sylvian’s involvement as Artist in Residence. There were so many first experiences, hearing musicians play live whose work I have subsequently taken time to explore and which I have found to be tremendously enriching. On the opening evening alone there was Arve Henriksen, John Tilbury, Evan Parker, Sidsel Endresen and Philip Jeck. All gave performances in an art gallery surrounded by David Sylvian and Atsushi Fukui’s installation Uncommon Deities. Recorded readings by Sylvian and live recitations of the Norwegian originals by both Paal-Helge Haugen and Nils Christian Moe-Repstad were interspersed with the music, Sylvian observing proceedings from the sound desk at the rear of the space. What a line up to have in one room.

‘Philip Jeck studied visual art in the 1970s and has been creating sound with record-players since the early ’80s,’ read the introductory artist biography in the festival brochure, ‘working with many theatre and dance companies and playing with musicians/composers such as Jah Wobble, Steve Lacy, Christian Fennesz and Gavin Bryars. He has released nine solo albums, the most recent An Ark for the Listener on the Touch label…In 2009 he received a Paul Hamlyn Artists Award for Composers and in 2011 a Prix Ars Electronic Award of Distinction.’

World Citizen – The Only Daughter (remixed by Ryoji Ikeda)

elaborating upon the emotional heart of the work

Early in January this year I made my way along The Strand in central London to 180 Studios, very much within my old stomping ground as a mid-80s student. Entering the basement down the black-walled staircase, I was led to a darkened space where bean bags were laid out on the ground in a circle, each visitor invited to recline and turn their attention to the ceiling above, which was in fact taken up by a huge LED screen.

Weathered Wall

‘native to no one involved’

‘When I recorded Brilliant Trees, I started the album in Berlin, out of necessity, out of a low budget and it being the cheapest studio I could find, but I found that going to a strange place, meeting in a strange place — all these musicians for the first time, some of them I’d never even spoken to prior to meeting them — created a sense of adventure about the whole project,’ recalled David Sylvian. ‘I didn’t just feel it, I noticed it in the other musicians, and that they would give more of themselves in that environment rather than in their natural environment, their home town or whatever.’ (1991)

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

REPRESS OF COLOURED VINYLS

OUT NOW FROM LUCRECIA DALT feat. DAVID SYLVIAN

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):

UPDATES

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.