Spiritchaser by Dead Can Dance (CD, Jun-1996, 4AD (USA))

Album Features
UPC:	093624623021
Artist:	Dead Can Dance
Format:	CD
Release Year:	1996
Record Label:	4AD (USA)
Genre:	Alternative, Rock & Pop

Track Listing
1. Nierika
2. Song of the Stars
3. Indus
4. Song of the Dispossessed
5. Dedicacé Outò
6. Snake and the Moon, The
7. Song of the Nile
8. Devorzhum

Details
Producer:	Lisa Gerrard, Brendan Perry, Quivvy Church
Distributor:	WEA (Distributor)
Recording Type:	Studio
Recording Mode:	Stereo
SPAR Code:	n/a

Album Notes
Dead Can Dance: Lisa Gerrard , Brendan Perry (vocals, various instruments).Personnel: Renaud Pion (clarinet); Robert C. Perry, Lance Hogan, Peter Ulrich, Rónán O Snodaigh (percussion).Additional personnel: Robert Perry (percussion); Lance Hogan, Peter Ulrich, Renaud Pion, Rónán O Snodaigh.Recording information: Quivvy church.Photographers: Kevin Westenburg; Kevin Westenberg.Unknown Contributor Role: Renaud Pion.Dead Can Dance's SPIRITCHASER continues the band's interest in widening their musical (and lyrical) palate. This album contains Haitian, Native American, and modern dance influences, and even clips a reference from a George Harrison song ("Within You, Without You") on "Indus." The record's sleeve contains a brief discussion of how music is the expression of souls contained within instruments. This theme is oddly, though probably not accidentally, in keeping with the fact that SPIRITCHASER was the last Dead Can Dance record--following it, Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard parted ways to pursue individual careers.Standouts include the spectacular, and lengthy (at around 10 minutes), "Song of the Stars," a section of which is sung in Haitian; the aforementioned "Indus," built on Gerrard's amazing voice; and "Song of the Dispossessed," in which the narrator, through Perry's resonant voice, laments the loss of the old world to the influence of Christianity. The best track here, though, is "The Snake and the Moon," which uses electric guitars and medieval choral vocals to create something that shows that Dead Can Dance are as hip to the contemporary as they are to the out-of-time. SPIRITCHASER is a fitting final chapter to this band's fascinating work.

Editorial Reviews
7 (out of 10) - ...Dead Can Dance are big on moods....it gets more tribal, more textured. Melody tends to go walkabout, but that's OK because there's always a good chant or bizarre musical instrument to liven things up...
NME

...SPIRITCHASER descends from the duo's usual nether atmospheres into a realm of tribal percussion and chant, casting a comprehensive net over various world music traditions....Lisa Gerrard's voice [is as] gorgeous as always...
Option (19960901)

3 Stars - Good - ...the duo have stripped away Perry's melodramatic Scott Walker-isms and their Tudor madrigals for the more anthropological adventures of tribal beats and global folk textures...
Q (19960801)

...The eclecticism can border on preachy, but their Gaelic vocals and muted polyrhythms produce a haunting ambiance less grating than much world music, and more worldy than most.
Entertainment Weekly (19960712)