DEAD CAN DANCE

DEAD CAN DANCE
AION (1990)
320 KBPS

Long before No Doubt brought back ska and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy resurrected swing, Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry were making music that recalled an earlier time. How early? Try the Renaissance. Everything old--really old--is new again on Aion, the band's fifth and arguably finest album. Like DCD's other discs, Aion revolves around the interplay between Gerrard's soaring glossolalia and Perry's baritone crooning. A range of styles are explored, from the polyphonic choral heights of "The Arrival and the Reunion" to the smooth balladry of "Fortune Presents Gifts Not According to the Book" to the Middle Eastern sensuality of "Radharc." Other standout tracks include the playful "Saltarello," a traditional 14th-century instrumental dance piece, and "As the Bell Rings the Maypole Spins," a strikingly melodic song carried by bagpipes and Gerrard's angelic voice.

1. Arrival and the Reunion
2. Saltarello
3. Mephisto
4. Song of the Sibyl
5. Fortune Presents Gifts Not According to the Book
6. As the Bell Rings the Maypole Spins
7. End of Words
8. Black Sun
9. Wilderness
10. Promised Womb
11. Garden of Zephirus
12. Radharc