David Sylvian
35 articles
List of articles in the library
David Sylvian: Melancholy Baby
Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 2 January 1982
MELANCHOLY PROPS up his head and whispers, half to himself and half to me... ...
David Sylvian: The Face Interview
Interview by Fiona Russell Powell, The Face, October 1982
David Sylvian had agreed to do only three interviews when he returned to England from a month's stay in Japan. The first was for the ...
The Art Of Noise: David Sylvian
Profile and Interview by Ian Birch, Smash Hits, May 1984
What's David Sylvian been doing since Japan broke up? Taking Polaroids, traveling, organizing an exhibition – oh, and making a new record. "Art is my ...
David Sylvian: Brilliant Trees (Virgin V2290)
Review by Betty Page, Record Mirror, 30 June 1984
Hi ho Sylvian ...
David Sylvian: Brilliant Trees (Virgin)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 4 August 1984
ANY WHO expect David Sylvian's sheaf of essays to present wafery, neutral music must be confounded by the diversity and strength of Brilliant Trees. This ...
David Sylvian: Journeys Into The Interior
Profile and Interview by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 11 August 1984
FOR ONE who seems so still David Sylvian is constantly on the move. ...
David Sylvian Vs. The Pop Goliath
Interview by Dave Rimmer, The Face, March 1986
THE MAN WHO STROLLED INTO the lobby was small and neat, grey-suited with white shoes. His hair was a natural darkish brown a small silver ...
David Sylvian: Blonde On Blonde
Interview by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 23 August 1986
TWO YOUNG men, once blond, face one another and indulge in the absurd activity of taking music seriously. "Almost too seriously," says David Sylvian. The ...
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 6 September 1986
THE THIRD person entered store after store, priced nothing, spoke no word, and looked at all objects with a wild and vacant stare – having ...
David Sylvian: Gone To Earth (Virgin VDL1)
Review by Betty Page, Record Mirror, 6 September 1986
MR SYLVIAN has always been refreshingly transparent when it comes to influences. But no matter — he still produces gentle, reflective, delicate but painstakingly crafted ...
David Sylvian: The Man Who Fell To Earth
Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 27 September 1986
As DAVID SYLVIAN settles into the quiet life of solo status, CHRIS ROBERTS appraises the significant stature of his post-Japan harmonics and post-mascara beauty. ...
Scared of Success: David Sylvian — The Man Who Would Be Invisible
Interview by Simon Witter, i-D, November 1987
2019 NOTE: In decades of writing about music, I was only ever once asked to do a hatchet job — on Belouis Some in the ...
Sylvian Gives the People What He Wants
Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 5 April 1988
SAY YOU'VE come under the melancholy spell of David Sylvian's richly atmospheric music — an autumnal wash of strings and electronics, with the singer's low, ...
David Sylvian: The Loner Emerges
Interview by Ted Drozdowski, Musician, May 1988
JAPAN'S RECLUSIVE LEADER FINDS TECHNO-POP MATURITY IN A SOLO AFTERLIFE ...
David Sylvian: Teatro Smeraldo, Milan
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 13 May 1988
A touch of velvet — Adam Sweeting in Milan finds David Sylvian in mellifluous form ...
David Sylvian: Hammersmith Odeon
Live Review by Cathi Unsworth, Sounds, 11 June 1988
BENEATH SOFT, subtle lights stands David Sylvian. Shadowed by his keyboards, he's an inconspicuous figure. His shoulder length hair is knotted loosely in a pony ...
David Sylvian: Words of the Shaman
Interview by Paul Lester, Melody Maker, 16 September 1989
THE LAST TWO YEARS HAVE BEEN A PERIOD OF TRANSITION FOR DAVID SYLVIAN, BUT HE'S NOW IN A NEW COLLABORATION WITH HOLGER CZUKAY AND A ...
David Sylvian: Life in the Beehive
Report and Interview by Richard Cook, The Wire, November 1989
DAVID SYLVIAN sits back and thinks about the work. "There are evident failures and occasional successes, but my opinion of the work doesn't change much. ...
Review by Robert Sandall, Q, January 1990
POP STARDOM, AND all the tabloid accolades which followed his unofficial award "Most Beautiful Man in Britain" 1981, did not agree with David Sylvian. ...
Robert Fripp, David Sylvian: Double Edge
Interview by Nick Coleman, Time Out, 30 June 1993
Guitar hero meets cool synth dude on The First Day, a new album by Robert Fripp and David Sylvian. They should go together like a ...
David Sylvian: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, January 1996
ACOUSTIC GUITAR, DHOTI, sensible shoes. Who'd have thought it, back in the techno tailor's dummy days of lipstick, peroxide and synthesizers? ...
Retrospective and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, April 1999
He was the sensitive soul who fronted south London’s dodgiest glam-rockers, the World’s Most Lovely Man who chose tortured sainthood, pop’s preening popinjay who reinvented ...
We Have Ways of Making You Talk: David Sylvian
Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, May 1999
DAVID SYLVIAN'S first solo album for 12 years, Dead Bees On A Cake, is his most personal and accessible work to date, and features Talvin ...
David Sylvian: Everything And Nothing
Review by Ian Penman, Uncut, November 2000
COLLECTED OUEVRE of Japan's finest ...
Interview by Ken Scrudato, Surface, April 2001
WHEN, IN 1987, David Sylvian sang the words, "I wrestle with an outlook on life, that shifts between darkness and shadowy light," he spoke of ...
Review by David Toop, The Wire, June 2003
With contributions from Derek Bailey and Christian Fennesz, David Sylvian's new record is his most adventurous departure yet. ...
Review by Nick Southall, Stylus, 1 September 2003
DURING THE RECORDING of What's Going On Marvin Gaye would apparently lock himself alone in a room for an hour or more each day to ...
David Sylvian: Festival Hall, London
Live Review by David Sinclair, The Times, 30 September 2003
AN ACQUIRED TASTE at the best of times, David Sylvian did not make life easy for himself or his extraordinarily loyal following at the Festival ...
David Sylvian: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 30 September 2003
JAPAN DISSOLVED with barely a murmur, just as 'Ghosts' brought the band overdue success in 1982. The strain of their avant-garde glam-pop suddenly being in ...
David Sylvian: Brilliant Trees/Alchemy/Gone To Earth/Secret Of The Beehive (Virgin)
Review by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, October 2003
IN 1989, VIRGIN released Weatherbox, one of the most coveted box sets ever. It underlined the first phase of David Sylvian's solo career; indeed, it ...
David Sylvian: Whatever Happened to the World's Most Beautiful Man?
Profile and Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, October 2003
So, David Sylvian, you live halfway up a mountain in New England? "That's the way it is", laughs the singer (and yes, he does laugh. Asked ...
David Sylvian: The Good Son vs the Only Daughter: The Blemish Remixes (Samadhisound)
Review by David Stubbs, The Wire, March 2005
2003's BLEMISH was a significant improvement on David Sylvian's previous album, the far from mediocre Dead Bees On A Cake. ...
Review by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, December 2009
DESCRIBED BY Sylvian as "a completely modern kind of chamber music; intimate, dynamic, emotive, democratic, economical", Manafon picks up where 2003's Blemish concluded. Working with ...
David Sylvian: A Victim Of Stars, 1982-2012
Review and Interview by Andy Gill, Uncut, March 2012
WHEN DAVID SYLVIAN first became a presence on the pop scene on the cusp of the '80s, it was obvious that, like many of that ...
Laughter & Forgetting: The Strange & Frightening World Of David Sylvian
Retrospective and Interview by Wyndham Wallace, The Quietus, 19 March 2012
A new compilation, A Victim Of Stars 1982-2012, celebrates thirty years of solo work by David Sylvian, who guides Wyndham Wallace through some of its ...
see also Japan
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