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Died in the Wool – Manafon Variations is a remix album by English singer and musician David Sylvian, released in May 2011 by Sylvian's independent label Samadhi Sound. The album features six songs from Sylvian's 2009 album Manafon, which have been remixed by Dai Fujikura. The new songs are heavily influenced by Fujikura, who conducted, arranged and composed the prevalent strings sections. "I Should Not Dare" and "A Certain Slant of Light" are poems by Emily Dickinson, set to music and sung by Sylvian.

The second CD is a 18-minute long stereo mix extract from the 2008–09 Biennial of Canaries, for which Sylvian, with Fujikura, wrote a piece of music as a sound installation. The instrumental piece was over 50 minutes long and was recorded on Gran Canaria of the Canary Islands. It was mixed by Sylvian in 5:1 surround sound and mastered by Steve D’Agostino. It was inspired by a 2003 article on genetics research in the Canary Islands.

"A Certain Slant of Light" is a remix of the Sylvian's 2010 release for the Mick Karn Appeal, which is referenced in this version with the bracketed "For M.K".

Track listing

All lyrics are written by David Sylvian, except where noted; composers are also shown.

Disc 1
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Small Metal Gods"Werner Dafeldecker, Fennesz, Michael Moser, David Sylvian, Burkhard Stangl5:09
2."Died in the Wool"Dai Fujikura, Sylvian6:03
3."I Should Not Dare" (For N.O.)Emily DickinsonJan Bang, Fennesz, Sylvian3:24
4."Random Acts of Senseless Violence"Dafeldecker, Fennesz, Moser, Keith Rowe, Sylvian6:24
5."A Certain Slant of Light" (For M.K.)DickinsonBang, Erik Honoré, Sylvian3:28
6."Anomaly at Taw Head"Sylvian, John Tilbury5:06
7."Snow White in Appalachia"Dafeldecker, Fennesz, Moser, Rowe, Sylvian5:59
8."Emily Dickinson"Fennesz, Evan Parker, Sylvian, Tilbury3:35
9."The Greatest Living Englishman" (Coda)Tetuzi Akiyama, Sachiko M, Toshimaru Nakamura, Sylvian, Otomo Yoshihide3:06
10."Anomaly at Taw Head" (A Haunting)Sylvian3:12
11."Manafon"Dafeldecker, Fennesz, Moser, Rowe, Sylvian4:05
12."The Last Days of December"Fujikura, Sylvian6:16
Disc 2
No.TitleMusicLength
1."When We Return You Won't Recognise Us"John Butcher, Fujikura, Arve Henriksen, Günter Müller, Nakamura, Eddie Prévost, Sylvian18:15
Total length:74:02

Personnel

Musicians

Technical

  • David Sylvian – art direction, record producer, mixing (all except 4)
  • George Bolster – cover artwork
  • Chris Bigg – design
  • Dai Fujikura – mixing (1, 4, 9, 10, 12)
  • Erik Honoré – mixing (5, 11)
  • Jan Bang – mixing (5, 8, 11)
  • Fred Kevorkian – mastering
  • Ted Young – strings recording (1, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12), flute recording (10, 12)
  • Rupert Coulson – recording (2–1)