Spleen and Ideal
by Dead Can Dance
- Type: Album
- Released: 25 November 1985
- Label: 4AD
- Country: Australia
- Length: 37:54
- Community rating: 4.47/5 from 15 ratings
Artists on this release: Brendan Perry, Lisa Gerrard
Album Notes & Community Reviews
On 'Spleen and Ideal', Dead Can Dance decisively shifted from their post-punk and gothic rock origins, establishing the neoclassical dark wave sound that would define much of their career. The production, helmed by the band and John A. Rivers, traded guitars for a broader orchestration of cello, trombone, and timpani, creating a sound with medieval and classical influences. Drawing its title from Charles Baudelaire's poetry, the album blends Brendan Perry's structured songwriting with Lisa Gerrard's soaring, atmospheric vocals to explore themes of 19th-century symbolism.
Genres
Descriptors: experimental, ritualistic, orchestral, atmospheric, conceptual, choral, medieval, ambient
Tracklist
- De Profundis (Out of the Depths of Sorrow) (03:58)
- Ascension (03:05)
- Circumradiant Dawn (03:17)
- The Cardinal Sin (05:28)
- Mesmerism (03:51)
- Enigma of the Absolute (04:14)
- Advent (05:16)
- Avatar (04:34)
- Indoctrination (A Design for Living) (04:11)
Credits
- Lisa Gerrard - vocals, all other instruments, production
- Brendan Perry - vocals, all other instruments, production, sleeve art direction
- Gus Ferguson - cello
- Martin McCarrick - cello
- James Pinker - timpani
- Tony Ayres - timpani
- Richard Avison - trombone
- Simon Hogg - trombone
- Carolyn Costin - violin
- Andrew Hutton - soprano vocals on track 1
- John A. Rivers - production, engineering
- Jonathan Dee - engineering
- Colin Gray - sleeve photography