Dead Can Dance Garden of the
Arcane Delights
1984; 4AD
Like their
label-mates Cocteau Twins, it took a couple of releases for Dead Can Dance to
find their niche as it were. Both their self-titled debut and this follow up EP
are a bit too heavily aligned with post-punk’s style and atmosphere to really
fit in with pretty much everything that came after it, especially considering
that it was less than a year later that Spleen
and Ideal came about and codified the darkwave aesthetic without much
effort at all. I’m not necessarily shocked that DCD didn’t come out fully
formed or anything, but the differences between the material on Garden of the Arcane Delights and
everything they made afterwards is so pronounced that it almost reads as two
different bands that just happened to feature the same people.
The
differences are much more pronounced on Brendan Perry’s two contributions
though. That’s true of their whole discography really; Perry’s vocals are much
more liable to lapse into pseudo-gothic drawl that imbues his songs with a
moodier edge, but here that edge is carried over into the instrumentation and
it’s slightly distracting. Lisa Gerard’s cuts are steps in the direction that
DCD would own for the bulk of the 80s, not as heavily neoclassical as The Serpent’s Egg et al but replete with
more organic and sprightly instrumentation that marks its evolution. Perry’s tracks,
on the other hand, sound like exceptionally dour post-punk, with icy guitar and
bass filling the spaces later occupied by textured samples and synths. In my
mind, the best decision that the band made hereafter was to keep the
instrumentation more consistent throughout a given release, not negating the
contrast between Perry and Gerard’s material but making it more effective by
letting their respective vocal styles imbue their tracks with distinct moods.
Here, the vocals seem to dictate the instrumentation on any given track which
gives the transitions between the two vocalists’ material extremely whiplash-y.
That’s not an
issue with the songs here as much as their presentation on the EP itself. Switching
back and forth between Gerard’s and Perry’s songs is interesting in theory, but
the contrast is a bit much in terms of its presentation. Part of me likes the
contrast, but I still think that putting either vocalist’s material on distinct
sides would have served the release better even if it made it a bit less interesting.
That way at least you’d have the nearly stunning opener “Carnival of Light” –
the EP’s clearest indication of where the bands were headed and so much the
better for it – and the only slightly less great closer “Flowers of the Sea” as
a united front showcasing where Gerard was aiming the band’s ambitions, almost
a mini-prelude to Spleen and Ideal if
you will. Perry’s material is already presented together (At least on the
reissue where there’s no need to flip the disc over between the two) and they
work nicely enough together despite not being quite as forward thinking as the
other two. I’ll give Perry this though: “The Arcane” is one of the best gothic
rock tracks I’ve come across even if it doesn’t quite feel like a Dead Can
Dance track. I may prefer both of Gerard’s contributions to it on this
particular EP, but in a different realm it’s at the top of the heap and that
can’t be denied really.
If nothing
else, Garden of the Arcane Delights
is a definite step up from the band’s spotty as hell debut in addition to being
a big step towards the best iteration of their sound. Gerard’s tracks work
slightly better than Perry’s, that’s a given for me since I just prefer her vocals,
but both sides of the band are operating quite well at this stage. A slight
tweak of the tracklist might give things a better feel overall, but as
presented it’s still la nice post-mortem for the band’s initial aesthetic and a
fantastic, fully defined ushering in of their new one. And really, most bands can
only hope that their awkward first steps sound this good, that deserves all
manner of praise. [7.4]
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