Dead Can Dance: Into the Labyrinth (2LP) [4AD]

Why you'll love it

This remastered 4AD 2LP set comes in a gatefold and adds "Bird" and "Spirit" on side D, as on the original UK double vinyl. The album sold more than 500,000 copies worldwide.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Remastered
• Gatefold jacket
• Bonus tracks "Bird" and "Spirit"
• Pressed in the EU

About the album

By 1993 Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard were living on opposite sides of the planet, Perry in Ireland and Gerrard in Australia with her family, writing music on their own. For Into the Labyrinth, Gerrard flew back to Quivvy Church, Perry's studio in County Cavan, and over three months they merged their songs into one record, playing every instrument themselves for the first time.

The music leans further than ever into folk and world traditions. Gerrard's wordless vocals carry "Yulunga (Spirit Dance)," named for an Aboriginal word for dance, and "Saldek" and the a cappella "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" are spellbinding. Perry sings "The Ubiquitous Mr Lovegrove" and "The Carnival Is Over," and the title, with songs like "Ariadne" and "Towards the Within," nods to Theseus and the Minotaur.

It was also their first album to get a major-label push in the US, through 4AD's deal with Warner Bros. Perry was living on an island in the middle of an Irish river at the time, which is one way of making sure the neighbours never complain about the drums.

Also at Kops: more Dead Can Dance on vinyl · browse Industrial & Goth

Tracklist

Listen

On 4AD (cat# DAD 3621), a reissue of the 1993 album.