With Sylvian’s serenity a reunion with Japan could be possible. The idea had been postponed for remote disagreement with the frenetic Mick Karn, the bass, the 'eternal number two' of the group. Sylvian shows his new awareness allows the collective work. Two alternatives remain closed: it isn’t possible using of the old name and Sylvian cannot take the fatherhood accreditation. The alchemical is Rain Tree Crow, "the raven's rainforest, which gives the title to the CD.
The raven is a name closely to all the group’s members. It’s a loneliness symbol and it designates the splendid isolation of the superior in spirit. It combines the germination and fertilization processes. There’s only a Mayan word for "vegetation" and "Rain", they are similar concepts. The crow’s choice alludes to a physical and spiritual gestation. It’s a good omen. In Japan the crow takes light in the universe, and it’s the kami’s messenger, the divine spirits of family and the symbol of Shintoism. The symbolism of the raven is full of contradictions: the bird protects men from death, but it also announces it, it disturbs but serves as a guide. The same contradictions are in the group, and the new name puts the light on them.
Without doubt, it is another group. According to Sylvian, all components are completed and now they play the improvisation as the singer suggested. In all the songs there’s an autumn’s atmosphere, with a sky full of rain. Paradoxically, this melancholy results in a albedo more than a nigredo. Both of them belongs to the raven.
Songs as Every Color You Are and the title track show how each tone color is possible. The black of the crow is shining, it’s the the opposites intermingling: light and dark. Each member occupies his own space without removing it to others. The same is for Sylvian. His lyrics are essential. The album has not been followed. Sylvian, however, could move to new experiences, once terminated the relationship with his friends from the past.
The implementation of another project has a background. The King Crimson looks for a singer, and the choice is on Sylvian, who declines the invitation. But the proposal fell on deaf ears: the begin of the collaboration between Fripp and Sylvian. The album is The First Day: the creation. The Italian group ‘Banco del Mutuo Soccorso’ was already oriented on Darwin’s concept, where "creation has created for itself." Sylvian and Fripp expose it in God's Monkey.
" One push/You fall in/Born in darkness/Built on shame/And hurting/Filled with silence/Filled with silence/And stars/Stars/Stars/Find the ladder/Climb the ladder/To God's monkey "
According to Nietzsche, man is a stretched cable over an abyss, ending with the animal, the monkey, and the Übermensch. He has to be a funambule: he can break his bones and fall to the ground or he can progress. The same happens to the sons protagonist: from monkey to God. God, the transcendence, appears to the summit of the whole process. Sylvian and Fripp know it’s necessary to discover the way to rise. In illo tempore, a different fish from the others, tired of water and it went on the mainland with fatigue. In the beginning inhaling the air was difficult, but then the fish came to the man because of the evolution. Now it’s time to move from man to Übermensch, God's monkey. It’s an alchemical transformation.
‘ 20th Century Dreaming’, Shaman's Song is shamanism in modern version. This religion is perhaps the matrix of all the others, and it represents the first known form of human spirituality, from Siberia to Mongolia from China to Africa. There is a substrate is common. Shaman is often a mentally disturbed man going in trance to be a mediator. So he can heal all kinds of diseases: physical, mental or spiritual.
This cycle of death-rebirth is found in nearly all world religions: Christianity as well as in Buddhism, in Induism and in Taoism, and so forth. Transit by Orpheus-Christ to shamanism is natural for Sylvian, almost obligatory. The shaman is the prototype of these figures and Sylvian identifies himself with the shaman.
The music plays the shamanic trance. The journey begins with the fresh air of the morning, with a frenetic, irregular and hard rhythm. Sylvian awakes to the sound of the rain and he goes to the crossroads where divides the paths of men and spirits, ‘where value is meaningless’. He come back to the shaman, asking him what has he done with his faith in justice, in hope and in happiness. The answer is that everything has vanished into thin air. Fripp could be one of the shaman’s incarnations, it’s his photo to be with the lyrics in the booklet. Sylvian intones the chorus: "Social, economical, spiritual
I'm moving to the house of love".
Then the shaman becomes Sylvian himself. He celebrates the sacrifice of fire, food and water.
‘Gonna take a course of action/To restore my sight/'til the heart of motivation/Is filled with a golden light’. The shaman searches in his heart, and he discovers the rescue’s spirits. Also this song comes from ’Ghosts’. But time is gone and Sylvian seems more secure in the fight against the darkness.
Little by little the atmosphere is changing. The shaman takes the fetal position when he’s dreaming, closer to the spirits of the universe. Everything becomes more mild, evanescent. In the song Fripp is the boss and he presents a hard and harsh rock. In advanced shamanic trance, David returns to more congenial and delicate contexts. He sings of hope: "As the river runs/Tumbles and turns/You know you shouldn't stay/Or play the game again/But it could be different this time/You may win". After the storm comes back the peace.
The last song, Bringing Down The Light, proposes a serenity state (as Sylvian feels at that time). The collaboration with Fripp is exciting but it’ll be the only one, as with Japan. Sylvian feels to proceed alone.
The life’s circumstances often change the direction of an artist. Sylvian married before the album with Fripp. Igrid Chavez, the wife, is a singer too. Sylvian is more interested in women’s world because of this love story, maybe. His songs feels the Mother Goddess mysticism now. In Indian culture the female deity represents the cosmic energy. She is often represented with Shiva, but she has an autonomous and decisive role. Mahadevi (the great goddess ") is identified with many figures of the Hindu Pantheon, including Parvati and Kali. India is a practiced ancient times religion. It’s venerates a fertility’s goddess, a natural forces symbol representing every aspect of women: the mother, the virgin, the virtuous and the seductive.
Sylvian draws to these doctrines through the female guru’s mediation. In Dead Bees On A Cake Shri Ma is the soloist’s voice sometimes, and he dedicates a song to the most famous Mother Meera. Moreover, he defines Shri Mata Amritanandamayi as his spiritual guide.
‘I Surrender’ evokes the new atmosphere since the title. The abandonment and the sensitivity are feminine qualities and Sylvian is discovering his feminine, the Jung’s soul. The process of identification goes on. Many cults are influenced by the female Islamic mysticism: the word Islam means abandonment. The Sylvian’s personality will be enriched. " I opened up the pathway of the heart
The flowers died embittered from the start
That night I crossed the bridge of sighs and I surrendered " Says that they looked back, and he worried scorto a boy, suffering, namely himself, who now sinking in joy. The whole world seems part of his feelings: "Tonight the stars are lined up / and I have surrendered." A suddenly he felt the women’s presence: "My mother cries beneath a southern sky and I surrender "
He stops the meaning’s research when he sees the light in the Woman’s eyes. It can burn all books. The heaven opens up the moon and it shows there’s only the Mother. Sylvian discovers the Sakamoto’s fender rhodes. It’s an electric piano, evoking jazz and with a hybrid and androgynous delicatess.
The next song takes its name from the dobro, and it was written by Bill Frisell. Sylvian breathes the Eastern air. The David’s voice is more persuasive because of the abundant vocal effects. When he intones " And it rained on my house /All summer " it seems to be in India in the rainy season.
The fourth song takes its name from the Mother Meera European Union residence: the German village of Thalheim. The woman is near to Sri Aurobindo, one of the greatest Masters of 900. Her maiden name was Kamala, and she arrived in the village of Pondicherry, headquarters of the Indian mystic man after the Mère’s death. Kamala meets both in a dream. The two mystics notice the direction, to continue their work. She chooses the name of Mother Meera ( "miracle"). She receives Overmind, the cosmic consciousness, by Aurobindo and the Mère. This will enables her to bless all the visitors.
