Died In The Wool takes the desolate blips and squeaks of David Sylvian’s 2009 album Manafon and adds extra – if you will – blemishes. These variations on the Manafon tracks finds Sylvian working with composers and producers such as Dai Fujikura, Jan Bang and Erik Honore, and adds six new improvisations to the original. The Last Days Of December and Manafon outtake Anomaly At Taw Head (A Haunting) are particularly affecting, while the variations on Small Metal Gods and Random Acts Of Senseless Violence compliment the originals perfectly.
The second disc contains When We Return You Won’t Recognise Us, along with the 18-minute capture of the audio from Sylvian’s installation of the same name. Inspired by an article on the genetic lineage of residents of the Canary Islands, it pairs some of the biggest names from the world of inspirational music with a string quartet. Easy listening Died In The Wool is not, but thoughtful, wilfully obscure and often inspirational it is.
