David Sylvian

你会怎样解读David Sylvian这位人物？
前英国New Romantic/Art Rock乐团Japan的灵魂人物？颠倒众生的天下第一美男子？唯美音乐诗人？还是简单直接地称他为一名艺术家？也许这些已彷佛是老掉了牙的说法，但在我们这辈乐迷心目中，他的而且确有著不可多得、无法磨灭的地位。
毕竟他的Brilliant Trees、Gone To Earth、Secrets Of The Beehive等个人专辑，都是八十年代一众文艺青年必听的唯美派音乐经典──如今这样写起来也倒觉得有点儿肉麻啊。
或许这是我们的八十年代集体回忆，然而David Sylvian的音乐创作却从没有停留在八十年代，请不要将他Nostalgia起来。只是打後他的作品，都并非为迎合乐迷所需而来，而是只朝著他的「自我」方针而前行——直至1999年，他推出了Dead Bees On A Cake专辑，才是他自Secrets Of The Beehive後足足十二年来的另一张Song-Based著作，重投乐迷最热切期待到Sylvian的萦绕心头优美Avant Ballad声音。
又正如踏入廿一世纪，Sylvian成立了他的自家独立厂牌Samadhi Sound。正当旧公司Virgin在2003年间相继把Japan及其个人专辑以新封套设计兼Remastered形式作旧酒新瓶再版发行，同年Samadhi Sound厂牌及Blemish专辑的出现，正标志著他展开了其音乐征途的新一章。
後维珍时代
2000年一张双CD歌曲精选专辑Everything And Nothing，再加上2002年的纯音乐精选专辑Camphor，正正为他的Virgin时代作出了圆满的总结，也象征丁自Japan时期的80年专辑Gentlemen Takes Polaroids起跟Virgin厂牌维持了超过二十载的合作无间宾主关系，亦已告一段落。
Virgin老早已不再是昔日那所甚具领导性的英伦新音乐品牌，但这所主流唱片集团到了後来仍能有空间容纳到Sylvian，让他发表谈不上有何商业元素的作品，已简直是奇迹且难能可贵。Sylvian脱离Virgin，其实是早可预料的事，然而他却没有蝉过别枝，而是选择独立自主地在美国新罕布什尔州开设他的Samadhi Sound厂牌。
Samadhi Sound是Sylvian的自家厂牌，也是他由一间古老农庄仓房改建而成的录音室，似乎他意图就此大展拳脚。
而Samadhi Sound的创业作，是他的2003年度个人专辑Blemish，纵然这是他继Dead Bees On A Cake之後的另一歌曲作品专辑，但所打造出却是一种简约而寂静的音乐美学，没有悦耳窝心的歌曲旋律，有的却是荒凉的疏离感。
秉承过往Sylvian唱片的精英阵容，在Blemish里亦同样有精锐的乐手助阵，但这次却只有仅仅两人为他伴奏而已，一位是英国Avant-Jazz结他手Derek Bailey，而另一位则是维也纳前卫电音制作人Fennesz——礼尚往来，去年Fennesz推出的Venice专辑，又邀请了Sylvian为他主唱了一曲Transit──他难得在别人的唱片里客串。
瑕疵再造
Following the 1982 dissolution of Japan, the groups onetime frontman David Sylvian staked out a far-ranging and esoteric career that encompassed not only solo projects but also a series of fascinating collaborative efforts and forays into filmmaking, photography, and modern art. Born David Batt in Kent, England, on February 23, 1958, Sylvian formed Japan in 1974 and served as primary singer/songwriter throughout the groups eight-year existence. Just prior to Japans breakup, Sylvian began working with composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, with whom he released the single Bamboo Houses in 1982, marking the beginning of a longstanding musical relationship.
After 1983s Forbidden Colours, another joint effort with Sakamoto composed for the film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, Sylvian released his 1984 solo debut, Brilliant Trees. The first step in his musics evolution from Japans post-glam synth pop into richly textured, poetic ambience, the album featured contributions from Sakamoto as well as Jon Hassell and Can alumnus Holger Czukay. That year, Sylvian also published his first book of photographs, Perspectives: Polaroids 82/84; in 1985, he released Preparations for the Journey, a documentary filmed in and around Tokyo, as well as the EP Words With the Shaman.
Gone to Earth, an ambitious double LP recorded with assistance from Robert Fripp and Bill Nelson, followed in 1986, while 1987 marked the release not only of the beautiful Secrets of the Beehive album but also the book collection Trophies: The Lyrics of David Sylvian. At the same time, he began composing the score for modern dancer Gaby Abis Kin, which premiered at Londons Almeida Theater that September; another collaboration with Abis, Dont Trash My Altar, Dont Alter My Trash, bowed in November 1988. Also in 1988, Sylvian reunited with Holger Czukay for the instrumental LP Plight and Premonition; the duo re-teamed in 1989 for Flux + Mutability. Ember Glance: The Permanence of Memory, an installation of sculpture, sound, and light created by Sylvian and Russell Mills, was staged in Tokyo Bay, Shinagawa, in 1990; a year later, he and the other members of Japan, who had briefly reunited under the name Rain Tree Crow, issued a self-titled album.
In 1994, Sylvian emerged in tandem with Robert Fripp for both an album, The First Day, and Redemption, another sound-and-image installation exhibited in Japan. The superb Dead Bees on a Cake followed in 1999; Approaching Silence, a collection of instrumental material, appeared later that fall. In fall 2000 Sylvian returned with the double-disc Everything and Nothing, which made for an excellent introduction to some of Sylvians projects that had finally taken shape after composition completion, financial settlements, and time constraints throughout his solo career. He reappeared in 2003 with Blemish, an unsettling disc of new material featuring appearances by avant guitar legend Derek Bailey and electronica experimentalist Christian Fennesz.