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Manafon

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Label info: Samadhisound # sound cd ss016 Date: September 14, 2009 Type: CD Copyright: © 2009 Samadhisound Ltd.
Release info:: All compositions published by Samadhisound Publishing / Campbell Connely & Co Ltd. except tracks 3,6,9 published by Samadhisound Publishing / Campbell Connely & Co Ltd / Copyright Control.
Beautiful digipak featuring exquisite artwork from Ruud Van Empel and designed by Chris Bigg.

Presented in a 6 panel digipak featuring artwork by Ruud Van Empel, art direction by David Sylvian, designed by Chris Bigg. The standard edition CD comes with a Credit Sheet folded and inserted into the digipak itself.

Creditsheet notes:

Original sessions recorded between 2004-2007
Produced, engineered and mixed by David Sylvian at Samadhisound 2008

Additional engineering:
Vienna: Christoph Amann, Tokyo: Toshihiko Kasai, London: Sebastian Lexer, London: Neil Tucker
Recording session coordination: Adrian Molloy on behalf of Opium (Arts) Ltd.
Recording session coordination (Tokyo): Sari Hayashiguchi on behalf of Epiphany Works.

All compositions published by Samadhisound Publishing / Campbell Connely & Co Ltd. except tracks 3,6,9 published by Samadhisound Publishing / Campbell Connely & Co Ltd / Copyright Control.

Art direction: David Sylvian
Design: Chris Bigg
Cover artwork: Ruud van Empel, sudy in green nos. 1,5,8 (2003), sudy in green no.16 (2004). Courtesy Flatland Gallery, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
(www.ruudvanempel.nl, www.flatlandgallery.com)
David Sylvian portrait and related drawings: Atsushi Fukui
Art direction and Liaison (A. Fukui): Yuka Fujii

Press release:

David Sylvian is a man apart. In a thirty-year career that spans the New Romantic movement, ambient works and progressive rock, and mature and esoteric pop, Sylvian has tested popular styles and bent them to his own vision. But the ‘00s have seen a more extreme side of his work. While 2003’s 'Blemish' startled long-time fans with its emotional rigour, Sylvian has taken the next step with 'Manafon' (his first solo album in 6 years) – a work of nuance and stern musicality, that is also intriguing, suspenseful, and horribly beautiful.

On 'Manafon', Sylvian pursues "a completely modern kind of chamber music. Intimate, dynamic, emotive, democratic, economical". In sessions in London, Vienna, and Tokyo, Sylvian assembled the world’s leading improvisers and innovators, artists who explore free improvisation, space-specific performance, and live electronics. From Evan Parker and Keith Rowe, to Fennesz and members of Polwechsel, to Sachiko M and Otomo Yoshihide, the musicians provide both a backdrop and a counterweight to his own vocal performances – which, minus one instrumental, are nakedly the center of each piece.

Sylvian’s voice has never been so dominant or so striking, and his resonant tenor and deliberate vibrato captivate the listener from the start of 'Small Metal Gods'. "It’s like a one-man monologue in which every change of light and backdrop is crucial to the carrying of the central performance. It’s an ensemble work even though there is a central performance".

Intuition drew Sylvian to these pieces and these players, and the surprises they bring: a cello visiting like a warm hand on a forehead, the unpredictable use of unadulterated sine waves, the brassy path of Evan Parker’s soprano sax solo. 'Manafon' has a forbidding core, but aesthetically, each piece is an engrossing discovery.

Presented as ever in a beautiful digipak featuring exquisite artwork from Ruud Van Empel and designed by Chris Bigg.

Manafon 6 panel digipack - front	Manafon 6 panel digipack - back	Manafon 6 panel digipack - disc
Manafon 6 panel digipack - inner left panel	Manafon 6 panel digipack - inner middle panel	Manafon 6 panel digipack - back middle panel
Manafon creditsheet - front	Manafon creditsheet - back

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Tracklist

	#		Songs
1	1	Small Metal Gods It's the farthest place I've ever been It's a new frontier for me And you balance things Like you wouldn't believe When you should just let things be Yes, you juggle things Cause you can't lose sight Of the wretched story-line It's the narrative that must go on Until the end of time And you're guilty of some self neglect And the mind unravels for days I've told you once Yes, a thousand times I'm better off this way I'm better off this way Where's my queen of hearts My royal flush I have cleaned and scrubbed her decks My suicide, my better days There's nothing I regret I've placed the Gods In a zip-lok bag I've put them in a drawer They've refused my prayers For the umpteenth time So I'm evening up the score Small metal Gods From a casting line From a factory in Mumbai Some manual labourer's bread and butter And a single-minded lie Small metal Gods Cheap souvenirs You've abandoned me for sure I'm dumping you, my childish things I'm evening up the score.	Small Metal Gods	Small Metal Gods Featuring Toshimaru Nakamura and Burkard Stangl.
1	2	The Rabbit Skinner Who'll do for him Child of the 50's With no common sense And no easy resting place Only lichen on beeches Oil on gun barrel And the hard taste of pennies A gardener’s folly Stands as proud as you please The lungs won't fill, the heart won't start Landlocked child of the seas And he alone is a man without qualities Combed his body for disorders But the disease lived on in far off quarters As a God everything was filled to excess As a man he settled for less Here lies the rabbit skinner God love the rabbit skinner A life without purchase No story to tell And three little bitches fight where he fell. Foxes, foxes, give her a sign Enter the little girl and show her what's mine Play hard and fast with the rules if you please Here lies a man without qualities	The Rabbit Skinner	The Rabbit Skinner Featuring Christian Fennesz and John Tilbury.
1	3	Random Acts Of Senseless Violence Under yellow light Comes the face of tomorrow Lights the fuse gives meaning to All that was previously hollow To a soundtrack track of sirens And mute aspiration The express train to Heathrow First of the morning Is leaving the station Our reckless sun rises On the tip of the iceberg Hidden in plain sight Still alive and full of surprises A generation gone soft Over new acquisitions That can't take the edge off I've put away my childish things Abandoned my silence too For the future will contain Random acts of senseless violence The targets hit will be non-specific We'll roll the numbers, play with chance All suitable locations Unplanned in advance Someone's back kitchen Stacked like a factory With improvised devices There's bound to be injuries With improvised devices No phone-ins, no courtesy No kindness And the future will contain Random acts of senseless violence And it's not just the boredom It's something endemic It's the fear of disorder Stretched to its limits And the safety in numbers is just a contrivance For the future will contain Random acts of senseless violence Democracy is very Democracy is very merry	Random Acts Of Senseless Violence	Random Acts Of Senseless Violence Featuring Keith Rowe and Werner Dafeldecker
1	4	The Greatest Living Englishman Here we are then, here we are Notes from a suicide And he will never ever be The greatest living Englishman It's such a melancholy blue Or a grey of no significance Plastic coated surfaces A space to place his suitcase As he's bussed from A to B But it's such a melancholy blue The curtains round the bed are drawn Broadcast voices from the ward The humming of machines are heard But there are distances between Yes, there are distances between His aspirations visited him nightly And amounted to so little Too much self in his writing Now he will never ever be The greatest living Englishman The engine shifts into second gear They're all aboard accounted for It's a journey he must make alone The black sheep boy is leaving home It's been rehearsed a thousand times or more He's well prepared of that he's sure But still it's such a melancholy blue He's erased a page of history Much as he'd intended to He wouldn't speak or show you he was happy Though you'd meet him with your eyes There was a wall that always stood between you He'd shut himself outside And the love that he engendered Would never be enough For him to feel alive Warm and tender He'd shut himself outside Not a fake nor a sham But dug in deep and fighting The world could not embrace a man With so much self in his writing Well he was never gonna be The greatest living Englishman He had ideas above his station Minor virtues go unmentioned Little England you fit like a straightjacket Hemmed by the genius of others He said "to conquer the world is not to leave a trace Remove even the shadow of the memory of your face" A grey of no significance	The Greatest Living Englishman	The Greatest Living Englishman Featuring Sachiko M. and Otomo Yoshihide.
1	5	125 Spheres And when it appeared It was a flaming book of matches A hundred and twenty-five spheres On a parquet floor	125 Spheres	125 Spheres Featuring Christian Fennesz and Burkard Stangl.
1	6	Snow White In Appalachia Half life She moves in a half life Imperfect From her place on the stairs Or sat in the backseat Sometimes you're only a passenger In the time of your life And there's snow on the mattress Blown in from the doorway It would take pack mules and provisions To get out alive There were concerts and car crashes There were kids she'd attended And discreet indiscretions For which she'd once made amends And there's ice on the windshield And the wipers are wasted And the metal is flying Between her and her friends She'd abandoned them there In the hills of Appalachia She threw off the sandbags To lighten the load As soon as the sun rose The keys were in the ignition Following the tyre tracks Of the truck sanding the road There had to be drugs Running through the girl's body There had to be drugs And they too had a name And the adrenalin rush Had left her exhausted When under the blue sky Nothing need be explained And there is no maker Just inexhaustible indifference And there's comfort in that So you feel unafraid And the radio falls silent But for short bursts of static And she sleeps in a house That once too had a name	Snow White In Appalachia	Snow White In Appalachia Featuring Michael Moser and Keith Rowe. Listen also to the full version.
1	7	Emily Dickinson She was no longer a user Don't think she realised we knew that Not one to make a fuss Why this and not something else Wasn't it obvious? She made such a hash of it You can’t help but notice A near absence of tenderness And who wants to live like that? And friends turned their backs on her She, no longer a user And she wanted to stay home With a box full of postcards And no place to send them Live like Emily Dickinson Without so much as a kiss Or the comfort of strangers Withdrawing into herself But why this and not something else?	Emily Dickinson	Emily Dickinson Featuring Evan Parker and Joel Ryan.
1	8		The Department Of Dead Letters	The Department Of Dead Letters Instrumental track from Manafon. Featuring Christian Fennesz and David on electronics.
1	9	Manafon There's a man down in the valley Who doesn't speak in his own tongue He bears a grudge against the English The tune to which his songs are sung There's a man down in the valley Who is moving back in time It's a physical ascension You can watch him as he climbs The farmer's wives are at their windows They've seen him wind his way for hours They tell the kids to lower their voices And pretend that they are out There's a man down in the valley Trying to stop time in its tracks His boots lie heavy on the grasses But it keeps on pushing back And his wife she was a painter But now she stains the altar black He's out bird watching on the islands And she wishes he'd come back There's a man down in the valley And he dreams of moving west Of battles raged against the furies That might see him at his best There's a man down in the valley Don't know his right foot from his left Don't know his right foot from his left	Manafon	Manafon Featuring Franz Hautzinger and Werner Dafeldecker.