Donald Milne
David Sylvian
New Romantic idol turned art-rock adventurer By Jim AllenFormer Japan frontman continually pushes musical boundaries in his solo career.
Few have traveled farther in the course of their artistic journey than David Sylvian, who started out as the frontman for raw, Roxy Music-influenced glam merchants Japan in the late ‘70s. By the early ‘80s, Japan had grown astoundingly, achieving a bewitching, unique blend of post-Bowie art-pop, funk, electronics, and Far Eastern influences. But Sylvian soon indulged a desire to push himself even further. In 1984 he launched a solo career that would continue into the 21st century and would incorporate ECM-style jazz, ambient instrumentals, moody balladry, and prog rock. His collaborators were an equally disparate lot, including King Crimson's Robert Fripp, Holger Czukay of Can, modern-jazz trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, and German electronica wizard Fennesz.
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