DAVID SYLVIAN
Everything And Nothing UMR
Triple-LP release for classy compilation.
It’s quite rare that a ‘best of’ pleases passionate fans while also offering a gratifying gateway for interested newcomers, but this 2000 release pulls it off. Now on vinyl for the first time, it’s a warm, seductive selection of Sylvian’s post-Japan solo work up to that point. In the 21st century, his music’s become increasingly cryptic, but the more moderate levels of experimental probing gathered here stay within touching distance of the accessible melancholy musings his faithful followers love to swoon over. While the bulk of its brooding pensiveness shares some DNA with synthpop, its spirit is closer to the folk reveries of Nick Drake or John Martyn. And like all the best sad, sorrowful music, its beauty leaves the listener recharged with hope.