Sylvian, David: Blemish (reissue/bonus track) LP

Almost 20 years into his distinguished solo career, which started with 1984's gold-selling, widely lauded Brilliant Trees, David Sylvian released Blemish as his first solo album to appear on his Samadhisound label. The album first appeared digitally in 2003, with the vinyl version that followed in 2004 now a collector's item. Blemish saw Sylvian working mainly solo to create an impromptu suite of songs for guitar, electronics and voice. The compositions grew out of improvisational sessions with the acclaimed free jazz guitarist Derek Bailey, on three tracks, and Austrian guitarist-producer Christian Fennesz on "A Fire In A Forest." "I wanted to get into those difficult emotions, and penetrate them as deeply as I felt I was capable of doing," said Sylvian at the time, "in the security of that working space. So, although there were elements of my life that were bringing all these negative emotions to the fore, what I was doing in the studio was taking them further – whereas in life we try to restrain them, we hold them back. We don't allow ourselves to go too far with it because they feel dangerous, they feel threatening. Living through these emotions was very difficult, but finding a voice for them was so cathartic. After that six-week period, I felt I'd worked through some very difficult emotions. I felt an enormous amount of release." This is Blemish's first official release on 180-gram vinyl, recut by the highly experienced engineer Tony Cousins at Metropolis Studios.