ALbum review, as written for the Jackson Hole Weekly.
Artist: Anastasis
Album: Dead Can Dance
Release date: August 13, 2012
Pull out your hookah, fire up the incense, and grab a bottle of Metaxa to drink in your dimly-lit bedroom as you prepare for your first listen of Dead Can Dance’s first album in 16 years, Anastasis. Anastasis refuses to pigeonhole into a single label, save the accusation of being a bit rhythmically glacial. It opens with “Children Of The Sun,” a song with Brendan Perry on monastic vocals, proclaiming “We are ancients, as ancient as the sun.” This line sets tonal stage for the rest of the album; eight tracks wrapped up into west Indian steel drum, gamelan gong, and middle eastern strings, and floating somewhere in the Mediterranean between Greece, Turkey, and North Africa. Lisa Gerrard’s voice has only grown into more of its siren quality, as she wails in “Agape” like an introspective femme fatale. “Opium” rolls in Moroccan Sufi 6/8 rhythm at the charge of horns and melting strings, and “Anabasis” features the Hang, a gorgeous instrument that’s a blend of gong and steel drum. Conclusion: playing Anastasis at your next dinner party is probably not a good idea, but it’s the perfect soundtrack to a night of adventures in worldly exoticism.
