Within the Realm of a Dying Sun
by Dead Can Dance
- Type: Album
- Released: 27 July 1987
- Label: 4AD
- Country: Australia
- Length: 38:42
- Community rating: 4.05/5 from 22 ratings
Artists on this release: Lisa Gerrard, Peter Ulrich, Brendan Perry
Album Notes & Community Reviews
'Within the Realm of a Dying Sun' marks a significant evolution in the duo's sound, moving decisively away from post-punk to embrace a dramatic, neoclassical darkwave style. The album is starkly bifurcated, with the first half devoted to Brendan Perry's solemn, baritone vocals set against grand orchestral arrangements, while the second half showcases Lisa Gerrard's ethereal, glossolalic contralto over music inspired by medieval and Middle Eastern traditions. Utilizing a palette of chamber strings, brass, timpani, and keyboards, the production creates a cavernous, funereal atmosphere that enhances the album's thematic explorations of history and spirituality.
Genres
Descriptors: experimental, ritualistic, orchestral, atmospheric, conceptual, funereal, choral, medieval, ambient
Tracklist
- Anywhere Out of the World (05:07)
- Windfall (03:31)
- In the Wake of Adversity (04:14)
- Xavier (06:15)
- Dawn of the Iconoclast (02:08)
- Cantara (05:58)
- Summoning of the Muse (04:56)
- Persephone (The Gathering of Flowers) (06:33)
Credits
- Lisa Gerrard - instruments, voice, written-by, producer
- Brendan Perry - instruments, voice, written-by, design [sleeve], producer
- Peter Ulrich - timpani, military snare, snare [military], drums [military snare]
- Gus Ferguson - cello
- Tony Gamage - cello
- Francisco Cabeza - engineer
- Ruth Watson - oboe
- Bernard Oudin - photography by
- John A. Rivers - producer, engineer
- John Singleton - trombone
- Richard Avison - trombone
- Mark Gerrard - trumpet
- Andrew Claxton - tuba, bass trombone
- Piero Gasparini - viola
- Alison Harling - violin
- Emlyn Singleton - violin