There’s no such thing as an album that’s a perfect 10 – but there those that are one notch below. The 9’s is an occasional series which explores some of those records.
Released: 1988
About
Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry first came across each other in Melbourne; by age 12 she’d learned the piano accordion and having graduated to the Chinese dulcimer, started performing in the city’s unforgiving pubs, whilst New Zealand born Perry was lead singer in punk band The Scavengers. Not unreasonably concluding they’d be more appreciated in the opposite hemisphere, they emigrated to London and as Dead Can Dance wound up the seminal 4AD label. Having created their own studio in a block of flats situated on The Isle of Dogs, their fourth album The Serpent’s Egg took them to another place entirely however, an ethereal dreamscape – for once use of the term is justified – where strands of neoclassicism and European folk glistered against chilly synths wrapped in spectral, medieval vibes.
Why a 9?
Their final album whilst a couple, The Serpent’s Egg found Gerrard and Perry in an unlikely cycle of tit for tat creative brilliance. Opener The Host of Seraphim rivaled This Mortal Coil’s Song to The Siren as 4AD’s greatest track from their Imperial era, whilst Perry’s emotionally resonant Severance was a foretelling of the pair’s disintegrating relationship. It was Gerrard though who would leave the more lasting impression through Song of Sophia and The Writing on My Father’s Hand, whilst the transcendent closer Ullyses felt like the end of an epic cycle.
Why Is It Important?
It’s rare to come across a record which is both so far ahead and behind its era. With The Serpent’s Egg Gerrard and Perry’s isolation inspired them to create music with a unique, almost inexplicable signature. A rich aural fantasy, in practical terms it would become a way point for the nascent darkwave movement, whilst its wider cultural brushstrokes have also inspired many since to root their own electronica in ethno-centric trappings.
You Should Listen To
The Host of Seraphim, Ullyses, Severance, The Writing on My Father’s Hand
The Voice Of Unreason 