The year 1988 brought the renewal of cooperation between Sylvian and Holger Czukay. Having contributed to Czukay's album "Rome Remains Rome" David eagerly accepted an invitation to briefly break away from his responsibilities as a singer and benefit from the artist's experience in experimenting with sound. The outcome of those endeavours quickly materialised within three days as a full project with both artists impatient to publish it. That, however, happened with no little effort after endless talks with much a apprehensive Virgin Records. Released by Virgin's low-budget subsidiary - Venture Records, the album, given its purely improvisational nature, could not be targeted at the mainstream audience. Based on intricate layers of sounds repeating in a multitude of permutations, the two pieces called "Plight" and "Premonition" were both musical journeys with the titles being their key-phrases. Despite the lack of popularity (even among David's fans), those irregular, disturbingly eerie and at the same time fascinating soundscapes were soon to be explored even further. After nearly four months had passed since the conclusion of "In Praise Of Shamans" tour, David Sylvian returned to Holger Czukay's studio in Cologne. Two new instrumentals began to take shape as a collaborative effort from not only Czukay and Sylvian but also the former Can guitarist - Michael Karoli, Michi - a Japanese singer, as well as Karlheinz Stockhausen's son Markus (trumpet) and Jaki Leibezeit (African drums and flute). As before, improvisation was the key-element of the sessions. Remarkably beautiful, "Mutability" took just one day to complete whereas "Flux", being more complex, had to be reworked several times (it was absolutely imperative for Sylvian to obtain a proper, extremely airy and spacious feeling). Regardless of its maturity, that ambitious journey towards ambient music shared the fate of its predecessor and divided both critics and fans. While some found the harmonious, peaceful pieces utterly gorgeous, others were rather unimpressed throwing the album into the uneventful musical territory dully labelled as "new age". It has to be said, though, that both albums recorded in collaboration with Holger Czukay have always been regarded by Sylvian as hugely relevant. The experience gained during those sessions proved to be inevitable and a keen ear will effortlessly spot the influence in David's subsequent releases. [  back to the top