David Sylvian

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David Sylvian (born David Alan Batt, 23 February 1958) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist who came to prominence in the late 1970s as frontman of the band Japan.

The band's edgynous appearance and increasingly popular sound made them a central figure in the UK's early-1980s New Romantic scene.

Sylvian embarked on a solo career with his debut album Brilliant Trees (1984), after their breakup.

AllMusic has characterized his solo work as "far-ranging and esoteric," and it has included collaborations with musicians like Ryuichi Sakamoto, Robert Fripp, Holger Czukay, and Fennesz.

Early years

David Sylvian was born in Beckenham, Kent, England, and he was named David Alan Batt. He grew up in Lewisham, South London, in a working-class household. Bernard was a plasterer by trade, and his mother Sheila was a housewife. Steve had an older sister and a younger brother. Sylvian later said he never loved his childhood, mainly because of Lewisham's mid-sixties atmosphere. He discovered an interest in music through his sister, who brought Motown and soul albums to the house, as an escape and emotional release from his agony. He attended Catford Boys School where he met Anthony Michaelides, later known as Mick Karn. The trio started playing music together after David's father gave him an acoustic guitar and his brother a drum kit as Christmas gifts.

The band members, including bassist Mick Karn, guitarist Rob Dean, keyboardist Richard Barbieri, and Sylvian's brother Steve as drummer, began as a group of friends. They used to play music as a way of escape, with Sylvian's two-chord numbers often as the frontman and occasionally with Sylvian at the front, but sometimes with Sylvian at the front. Sylvain Sylvain Sylvain's stage name was adopted by a New York Dolls fan, but his brother took Jansen from David Johansen.

They christened themselves Japan in 1974, signed a recording deal with Hansa, and formed an alternative glam rock band based on David Bowie, T. Rex, and the New York Dolls. Their music progressively improved over the course of a few years, harping heavily on Roxy Music's art rock stylings. The band's physical appearance also evolved; although they had been sporting make-up since their inception in the mid-1970s, they were mistakenly tagged with the New Romantic name in the early 1980s. Sylvian denied any connection with the New Romantic movement, and the band's manager denied any association with them: "I don't want to be associated with them." The moods are so different. "For them [New Romantics], fancy dress is a costume," Sylvian said of Japan's fashion sense. However, ours is a way of life. Every day, we look and dress in this way. Sylvian said in an interview in October 1981, at the height of the New Romantic movement in mainstream pop music, "There's a time when we look as though we're in fashion."

Between March 1978 and November 1981, Japan released five studio albums. The band signed with Virgin Records in 1980, where Sylvian remained as a recording artist for the next 20 years. The band suffered from personal and creative rivalry, particularly between Sylvian and Karn, with tensions arising from Sylvian's friendship with Yuka Fujii, a photographer, artist, and musician, as well as Karn's ex-girlfriend. Fujii was a central figure in Sylvian's history. She was the first person to introduce Sylvian seriously to jazz, which in turn inspired him to pursue musical avenues that were otherwise unhearded to him. Sylvian was also encouraged to incorporate spiritual discipline into his daily routine. Fujii continued to play a major role in the creation of artwork for his albums throughout his solo career. In December 1982, Japan held their last performances before dissolving.

Sylvian released "Bamboo Houses/Bamboo Music" in 1982, his first solo collaboration with Ryuichi Sakamoto. Sakamoto's first contribution to Sylvian's work was as co-writer of "Taking Islands in Africa" on the Japan album Gentlemen Take Polaroids (1980). Mr. Lawrence, Sylvian appeared on the UK Top 20 song "Forbidden Colours" from 1983 Nagisa Oshima's Merry Christmas.

Brilliant Trees, Sylvian's debut solo album, was a commercial and critical hit. The album featured contributions from Sakamoto, Kenny Wheeler, Jon Hassell, Holger Czukay, Ronny Drayton, Danny Thompson, Danny Thompson, and Sylvian's former band members, brother Steve Jansen and Richard Barbieri. With a promo video directed by Anton Corbijn, the lead single became the UK Top 20 single "Red Guitar."

Perspectives, Sylvian's Polaroid exhibition, was on view at Hamiltons Gallery in London from 19 June to June 1984. The major exhibition of Sylvian's work coincided with the publication of his book "Perspectives 82-84," which includes these photographs. There were also exhibitions in Tokyo and Turin.

Sylvian produced an important EP Words with the Shaman in 1985, in collaboration with Jansen, Hassell, and Czukay. "Steel Cathedrals," a piece released by Alchemy: An Index of Possibilities in the same year as a compilation album, included the addition of "Steel Cathedrals," a piece produced with Sakamoto, Czukay, Jansen, Wheeler, Robert Fripp, and Masami Tsuchiya. In a 20-minute film, the soundtrack to "Steel Cathedrals" was found. In and around Tokyo, Japan's outskirts, the short film was shot in two days of November 1984. A substantial portion of the recording was recorded over a three-day period and then released in the same month. In an effort to expand on the theme that had been underway in Japan and to raise the quality of the soundtrack, Sylvian later refined the material in London in an attempt to expand on it. As his first encounter with improvisations, he would name "Steel Cathedrals" as his first encounter with improvisations.

Propaganda's single "p:Machinery" emerged from Sylvian's demonstration "Sylvian's Machine" in 1985. Claudia Brücken said that Sylvian helped them with their writing and musical abilities on 'p-Machinery,' essentially influencing the final design and atmosphere of the piece.

The next release was the two-record set Gone to Earth, which featured one track of atmospheric vocal tracks and a second record of ambient instrumentals. Bill Nelson (formerly of Be-Bop Deluxe) and Robert Fripp (of King Crimson) were among the album's rhythm section, as well as Ian Maidman of Penguin Cafe Orchestra on bass. The album, which was released on September 13, 1986, debuted on the United Kingdom Album chart at number 24.

In early 1987, writing new material was accompanied by recording sessions at Chateau Miraval in South of France, and by May 1987, Secrets of the Beehive was completed, finally being published in October 1987.

The Beehive's mysteries made more use of acoustic instruments and were more focused on string arrangements by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Brian Gascoigne. It reached the top of the UK charts and remained for only two weeks.

In a 80-day world tour called "In Praise of Shamans," March to June 1988, the album was followed by his first live outing as a solo artist. Jansen, Barbieri, guitars and keyboards from Robbie Aceto, brass, and lead guitar from David Torn were among Sylvian's set of instruments. There were no songs from Sylv's former band Japan in the setlist.

Sylvian wrote, "Beehive was the summation of all the solo stuff that went before it." "I knew when I'd finished, I'd not be returning to such waters again." The time following...Beehive was the most difficult of my life. "A descent into hell."

It would be 1999 before he released his next solo offering after a long period of clinical depression, according to Secrets of the Beehive. The crisis started to develop before embarking on a 1988 tour. That took its toll, and Sylvian found himself in a dangerously unstable situation, which he will be experiencing in varying degrees over the next three to four years. Sylvian was unable to function alone, but he felt the urgency to dive into a joint venture as a result of learning about what he was dealing with through his responses. At these times, the crisis's manifestations were less apparent.

He left behind his Christian roots and began pondering a variety of philosophies, ranging from Gurdjief to Gnosticism to Zen Buddhism, each of which left their fingerprints in his lyrics and music, settling on Buddhism as his primary spiritual path.

Sylvian later collaborated with Holger Czukay, never one to conform to commercial expectations. Sylvian performed a vocal for Czukay's album at Can's studio in Cologne in 1986. But instead, they began toimprovise, and the first piece in three nights was released. Plight and Premonition were finally published in March 1988, while Sylvian was still on tour. The following year, Flux and Mutability was released, as well as contributions from Can members Jaki Liebezeit and Michael Karoli. Flux and Mutability were less apparent at its conception than Plight and Premonition. As this was not predicted at the time of Plight's unexpected genesis, Flux, Sylvian, travelled to Cologne for a two-week creative Christmas break in 1988.

With the introduction of Weatherbox, an intricate boxed-set set compilation based on Sylvian's four previous solo albums and designed by Russell Mills, Virgin decided to put an end to the 1980s. Sylvian's non-album song "Pop Song" was a hit on Weatherbox.

Sylvian collaborated with artists Russell Mills and Ian Walton on an elaborate multi-media installation titled Ember Glance – The Perpetence of Memory. The exhibition was on view at the temporary museum on Tokyo Bay, Shinagawa, Tokyo, between September and October 1990.

After a nine-year absence, the members of Japan's Rain Tree Crow banded together once more. The majority of the text was written as a result of group collaborations rather than rehearsals. This writing style was an integral part of the whole project, and in some ways it was the catalyst for the collaboration. The Rain Tree Crow project was originally intended as a long-term album contract, but Sylvian's insistence that the word Japan would not be used in conjunction with its advertising. However, the recording went over budget, and Virgin refused to put in any more money unless the name of Japan could be used. Sylvian's decision to personally fund the mixing of the album ended the resulting chaos. However, the group was no longer interested in re-forming, and the album was released as a one-off.

Sylvian first dreamed of working with guitarist Robert Fripp in 1986, but it took them a long time to accomplish it. At the end of 1991, the pair began to improvise and write as a pair.

Fripp had encouraged Sylvian to return to the live stage, a situation in which he did not feel at ease ('Sylvian didn't like being the center of attention.' Both the pair's concerts were largelyimprovised, like Sylvian's work in the studio. On the few days they undertook in Japan and Italy in 1992, they had no idea when they stepped out into the lights and wondered what would happen, or even what time they'd finish their night's work. Sylvian was confronted with his past one evening. He wanted to perform "Ghosts," Japan's biggest hit, on acoustic basis. It was the first time he'd touched it since 1983. 'It was quite nice because it somehow fulfilled the audience's desire that I should perform something from my songbook,' Sylvian said, "it" was not surprising." It was the trio's first act in Europe, but only in Europe, Trey Gunn, Robert Fripp, and Sylvian were the eyeopener. They had some stuff on the road one week before they went on the road, and as a result, it was very difficult, and just sitting on stage and trying to stay on track of it was fascinating. Sylvian was doing nothing at night, and Robert Fripp was just caught up in what Robert Fripp was doing. And Sylvian began to realize that it was a pleasant place to be. He loved the weather. It was all about reproducing the songs and presenting them in a specific way up until that point. But it was different, and it began to be enthraging him, and it opened up his eyes to the thrills of performing.

Fripp and Sylvian produced the album The First Day between December 1992 and March 1993 at studios in New York and New Orleans, which was released in July 1993. The album was a departure for Sylvian's philosophical lyrics to funk workouts and showcasing experimental rock styles that were very much in the style of Fripp's King Crimson.

They went back out on the road on their "The Road to Graceland Tour," which began in Tokyo on October 14, 1993, in order to cash in on the album's popularity. Michael Brook and Pat Mastelotto were among the additional performers on stage with Sylvian, Fripp, and Gunn. Damage, a live recording that was released in 1994, was culled from the tour's last shows.

The installation Redemption – Approaching Silence – was Sylvian and Fripp's last collaboration. The exhibition, which took place in Shinjuku, Tokyo, from 30 August to 18 September 1994, was held at the P3 Art and Environment center. Sylvian wrote and recited by Fripp, and the accompanying music was based on text.

Sylvian undertook a one-man solo tour called 'Slow Fire – A Personal Retrospective' in Italy, Germany, Japan, Belgium, The Netherlands, Canada, and North America at the end of August 1995. On November 11, 1995, the last show on the tour was held in New York City at The Town Hall. The show featured songs from Sylvian's time, including singing, playing piano, and guitar.

Sylvian's first solo album proper since The Beehive 12 years ago, Dead Bees on a Cake debuted in 1999. Dave Kents Napa Studio's album was finished, from the start to the end of 1998, Dead Bees on a Cake was eventually released in March 1999.

The album gathered together the most eclectic influences of all his recordings, ranging from soul to jazz fusion to Eastern-inflected spiritual chants, and the bulk of the songs' lyrics reflected the late Sylvian's inner calm as a result of his marriage, family, and faith. Guests included long-time friend Ryuichi Sakamoto, classically trained tabla player Talvin Singh, avant-garde guitarist Marc Ribot, jazz trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, and contemporary jazz guitarist Bill Frisell. Sylvian wrote in 2010: "I've been interested in deconstructing the familiar styles of popular song" in the absence of supporting the building but taking out the pillars of support." My work is regulary resurfaces with the question, "how much of the framework can you delete while still being able to identify what is, after all, a familiar form."

Sylvian released two compilation albums on Virgin Records: Everything and Nothing (2000), a two-disc retrospective, as well as an instrumental collection, Camphor (2002). Both albums featured previously released music, remixes, and several new or previously unreleased tracks that Sylvian produced especially for the projects. The retrospective publications effectively ended Sylvian's relationship with Virgin, which was the beginning of 2001.

On Tweaker's album "The Attraction to All Things Uncertain," the track "Linoleum" was also released in 2001. Sylvian co-wrote and sang on the project.

Sakamoto needed English lyrics for his project Zero Landmine, and he begged Sylvian to write a simple, tender lyric that could be sung by children. Various versions of the song were released, one being a Sylvian vocal with only the support of Sakamoto's piano.

Sylvian embarked on the 'Everything and Nothing Tour', which began in Osaka on September 17th and wound its way across Europe until October 27. The tour continued into 2002, visiting Japan and performing concerts in the United States and Canada. Jansen, keyboard player Matt Cooper, guitarist Timothy Young, and bassist Keith Lowe accompanied Sylvian on stage.

Samadhi Sound, Sylvian's former Virgin Records manager, launched his own independent label after Sylvian left Virgin Records. He released Blemish, which featured contributions from Christian Fennesz and Derek Bailey. Sylvian took a different approach with this collection, starting each day in the studio with a very simple improvisation on guitar. Once recorded, he'll listen back and use cues from the improv—the dynamic and so on—to determine the piece's architecture. On the spot, he composed lyrics and melody, and he'll follow it with a vocal album.

With Sakamoto, which was released in Japan in October 2003 and again in Europe in April 2004, Sylvian recorded the EP World Citizen. On the album "Pure Genius," Sylvian also collaborated with Chris Vrenna's Tweaker on the track "Pure Genius," which was also released on the album 2 a.m. Wake Up Call.

Sylvian toured in Europe and Japan from September 23 to April 2004 on the "Fire in the Forest Tour" featuring Steve Jansen, as well as virtual images and video clips of Masakatsu Takagi.

Madhouse had asked Sylvian to write the ending theme for Naoki Urasawa's Monster's anime version, titled "For The Love Of Life," alongside Japanese composer Kuniaki Haishima. Sylvian said he was "attracted to the Monster stuff because of the company's moral ambiguity."

Sylvian had initiated the Nine Horses project with Jansen and Berndt Friedman. They first released the album Snow Borne Sorrow in 2005 and Money for All in January 2007.

On September 17th to October 30, 2007, Sylvian took to the road for 'The World Is Everything' tour, which featured concerts in Europe, Hong Kong, and Japan, starring Steve Jansen, Keith Lowe, and Takuma Watanabe. The tour included a mix of styles, including jazz and electro, as well as other selections from his back catalog. Jansen also released his solo album Slope in 2007, with two songs co-written by Sylvian: "Ballad of a Dead Man" (a duet with singer Joan Wasser) and "Playground Martyrs."

On September 14, 2009, Manafon, a solo album, was released in two editions: a regular CD/digipak version and a twin boxset deluxe edition with two books that include the CD and a DVD containing the film 'Amplified Gesture.' Manafon featured contributions from leading figures in electroacoustic improvisation, including saxophonist Evan Parker, multi-instrumentalist Otomo Yoshihide, laptop, and guitarist Christian Fennesz, Polwechsel's double bassist Werner Dafelde, cellist Peter Moser, percussionist Eddie Prévost, and pianist John Tilbury, as well as percussionist Eddie Prévost and pianist John Tilbury. Sylvian said of Manafon in 2010:

Sylvian released Sleepwalkers, a collection of his live performances with musicians over the past ten years, including songs with Ryuichi Sakamoto, Tweaker, Nine Horses, Steve Jansen, Christian Fennesz, and Arve Henriksen. A few new songs, including "Sleepwalkers," were co-written by drummer Martin Brandlmayr of Radian and Polwechsel, were also included.

The double album Died in the Wool was released in 2011 as an evolution of Manafon's debut in 2009, which included collaborations with composer Dai Fujikura, designers Jan Bang and Erik Honoré, and a select group of contemporary musicians and improvisers. A stereo mix of "When We Return You Won't Recognise Us" by Fujikura was released on CD for the first time.

Sylvian appeared as the artist in residence at the Punkt Festival in Norway in 2011. Sylvian performed both compositions from the Holger Czukay-collaborated album Plight & Premonition, as well as curating the festival's events. In 2012, the warm reception prompted the decision to tour around Europe. "The Implausible Beauty" tour was supposed to feature a line-up of musicians, including Jan Bang, guitarist Eivind Aarset, guitarist Sebastian Lexer, cellist Hildur Gudnadottir, and trumpeter Gunnar Halle, but it was postponed in late January 2012 due to a back injury.

Sylvian's single "Do You Know Me Now?" debuted in 2013. "Where's Your Gravity?" a one-time vinyl pressing is available as a re-mastered copy of "Where's Your Gravity?" On the B-side.

There's a Light That Enters Houses in Sight, a long-form composition with contributions from Christian Fennesz and John Tilbury, as well as a spoken word by American Pulitzer Prize winning poet Franz Wright of excerpts from Wright's own Kindertotenwald, was released in 2014.

Sylvian introduced Playing The Schoolhouse and Confront Recordings in two limited editions in 2015. The collection, a 15-minute long piece, was based on improvisations by Sylvian and Jan Bang, as well as Otomo Yoshihide and Toshimaru Nakamura's contribution, and was filmed in a schoolhouse in Norway. There Is No Love, Sylvian's first collaboration with Confront Recordings in 2017 was with Mark Wastell (who runs Confront Recordings) and Rhodri Davies. The long-form composition was made with recently recorded materials, as well as text from Bernard-Marie Koltès' In the Solitude of Cotton Fields.

Grönland Records announced 'ERR', a photographic essay by Sylvian, with text by Shinya Fujiwara and an untitled original poem by Daisy Lafarge in July 2021.

Sylvian met Ingrid Chavez, a singer and actress who had been in touch with Prince's inner circle in 1992 while on the Sakamoto single "Heartbeat," in which she had been working. The couple married and moved to Minneapolis in the same year. Ameera-Daya (born 1993) and Isobel (born 1997). In 1997, the family moved from Minneapolis to Sonoma, California. They migrated back to Temple, New Hampshire, establishing a new home and studio, but Sylvian and Chavez were divorced in 2003.

Sylvian lived in the woods of southern New Hampshire in the former home of an ashram, doing the bulk of his work in a barn that contained his home recording studio as of 2005.

In July 2018, Sylvian said:

1970s–early 1980s: Japan

The band Japan, which also included bassist Mick Karn, guitarist Rob Dean, keyboardist Richard Barbieri, and Sylvian's brother Steve as drummer, all began as a group of friends. As youth, they loved music as a way of escape, featuring Sylvian's two-chord numbers, often with Karn as the frontman and sometimes with Sylvian at the fore. Sylvain Sylvain's stage name was adopted by a fan of the New York Dolls, while his brother received Jansen from David Johansen.

They christened themselves Japan in 1974, signed a recording deal with Hansa, and formed an alternative glam rock outfit based on David Bowie, T. Rex, and the New York Dolls. Their music evolved over the course of a few years, with some of them relying heavily on Roxy Music's art rock styles. Their physical appearance also grew, and although they had been sporting make-up since their inception in the mid-1970s, the band was mistakenly tagged with the New Romantic word in the early 1980s. Sylvian denied that the band had any links to the New Romantic movement, and they said, "I don't like to be associated with them." The attitudes are so different." "For them [New Romantics], fancy dress is a costume," Sylvian said of Japan's fashion sense. But ours is a way of life. Every day, we look and dress in this way. "There's a period going by right now that may make us seem as though we're in fashion" in an October 1981 interview, at the pinnacle of the New Romantic movement in mainstream pop music.

Between March 1978 and November 1981, Japan released five studio albums. The band signed with Virgin Records in 1980, where Sylvian remained as a recording artist for the next 20 years. The band suffered from personal and professional clashes, especially between Sylvian and Karn, as tensions arose from Sylvian's friendship with Yuka Fujii, a photographer, designer, and designer, as well as Karn's ex girlfriend. Fujii was a central figure in Sylvian's life for a short time. She was the first person to introduce Sylvian seriously to jazz, which in turn prompted him to pursue musical avenues that were otherwise unhearded to him. Sylvian was also encouraged to incorporate spiritual discipline into his daily routine. Fujii played a key role in the creation of artwork for his albums throughout his solo career. In December 1982, Japan appeared in December 1982 before dissolving.

Sylvian's first solo collaborative project with Ryuichi Sakamoto, "Bamboo Houses/Bamboo Music" was released in 1982. Sakamoto's first contribution to Sylvian's work was as co-writer of "Taking Islands in Africa" on the Japan album Gentlemen Take Polaroids (1980). Mr. Lawrence, Sylvian appeared on "Forbidden Colours," a UK Top 20 song.

Brilliant Trees, Sylvian's debut solo album, was a commercial and critical success in June 1984. The album featured contributions from Sakamoto, Kenny Wheeler, Jon Hassell, Holger Czukay, Ronny Drayton, Danny Thompson, and Sylvian's former bandmembers, brother Steve Jansen, and Richard Barbieri. With a promo video directed by Anton Corbijn, the lead single became the UK Top 20 single "Red Guitar."

Perspectives, Sylvian's Polaroid exhibition, held in London, between 19 June and June 1984. These images were included in Sylvian's major exhibition, coincident with the publication of his book "Perspectives 82-84." Exhibitions were also held in Tokyo and Turin.

Sylvian launched an essential EP Words with the Shaman in 1985, collaborating with Jansen, Hassell, and Czukay. The addition of "Steel Cathedrals," a piece from Sakamoto, Czukay, Jansen, Wheeler, Robert Fripp, and Masami Tsuchiya, was included on a compilation album that was re-released the same year as a compilation album. The soundtrack to a 20-minute film was "Steel Cathedrals." In and around Tokyo, Japan, the short film was shot in two days of November 1984. A significant portion of the song was recorded during the same month and released over a period of three days. Sylvian later expanded the material in London in an attempt to expand on the theme that had arisen earlier in Japan and to raise the sound quality. As his first encounter with improvisations, he would describe "Steel Cathedrals" as his first experience with improvisations.

Propaganda's single "p:Machinery" became Sylvian's Machine" during Sylvian's demonstration, which was released in 1985. Claudia Brücken said that Sylvian assisted them with their writing and musical abilities on 'p-Machinery,' essentially influencing the piece's final appearance and atmosphere.

The next release was the two-record set Gone to Earth, which featured one track of atmospheric vocal tracks and another of ambient instrumentals. Bill Nelson (formerly of Be-Bop Deluxe) and Robert Fripp (of King Crimson) were among the album's rhythm section, as well as Ian Maidman of Penguin Cafe Orchestra on bass. The album, which was released on September 13, 1986, debuted on the UK Album chart at number 24.

Writing new content in early 1987 was supplemented by recording sessions at Chateau Miraval, South of France, and by May 1987, Secrets of the Beehive had been published, finally being released in October 1987.

The Beehive's mystery made greater use of acoustic instruments and was stylistically oriented toward sombre, emotive ballads laced with string arrangements by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Brian Gascoigne. It reached number 37 in the UK charts, but it stayed for only two weeks.

"In Praise of Shamans," a 80-day world tour, was followed by his first live outing as a solo artist. Jansen, Barbieri, guitars, and keyboards from Robbie Aceto, brass and sax from Mark Isham, bass from Ian Maidman, and lead guitar from David Torn were among Sylvian's sidebands. In the setlist, there were no songs from Sylv's former band Japan.

Sylvian wrote, "Beehive was the summation of all the solo work that went before it." "I knew when I'd finished, I wouldn't be returning to exactly the same waters." The time after...Beehive was the most difficult of my life. A descent into hell."

Following the Beehive's Secrets, it would take him until 1999 to unveil his next solo venture as he entered a lengthy period of clinical depression. Until embarking on a 1988 tour, the crisis began to build up steam. That took its toll, and Sylvian discovered himself in a frighteningly unstable situation, which he would face in varying degrees of severity over the next three to four years. Sylvian was unable to function in solitude, but he felt the need to plunge into a joint venture after a joint venture in the hopes of finding out what he was dealing with by his responses. At these times, symptoms of the crisis were less apparent.

Ultimately, he left behind his Christian roots and began investigating a multitude of philosophies ranging from Gurdjief to Gnosticism to Zen Buddhism, all of which left its mark in his songs and music, settling on Buddhism as his primary spiritual path.

Sylviann later collaborated with Holger Czukay, never one to meet commercial expectations. Sylvian appeared in Can's studio in Cologne, 1986, to do a vocal for Czukay's album. They began toimprovise and recorded the first piece in three nights. Plight and Premonition were first published in March 1988, but Sylvian was still on tour. The following year, Flux and Mutability was announced, and it also featured contributions from Can members Jaki Liebezeit and Michael Karoli. Plight and Premonition were less prominent in their conception than flux and Mutability. Sylvian, Flux, returned to Cologne for a two-week creative Christmas break at the end of 1988, so this was not planned unlike Plight's unexpected origins.

With the unveiling of Weatherbox, an intricate boxed-set collection containing Sylvian's four previous solo albums and designed by Russell Mills, Virgin decided to bring the 1980s to an end. Sylvian's non-album album "Pop Song" was available concurrent with Weatherbox.

Sylvian worked with artists Russell Mills and Ian Walton on the elaborate multi-media installation Ember Glance – The Perception of Memory in 1990. At the temporary museum 'Space FGO-Soko' on Tokyo Bay, Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan, the exhibit was on display between September and October 1990.

After a nine-year absence, the members of Japan's Rain Tree Crow banded together once more. The bulk of the text was written as a result of group experiments, with no rehearsals. This writing style was a key component of the whole project, and in many ways it was the catalyst for the collaboration. The Rain Tree Crow project had been conceptualized as a long-term album contract, with Sylvian's insistence that the word Japan not be used in conjunction with its advertising. However, the recording was delayed due to a lack of funds, and Virgin refused to put in any more money unless the name Japan could be used. Sylvian's decision to personally fund the mixing of the album ended the resulting deadlock. The group, on the other hand, was no longer interested in re-forming, and the album was released as a one-off.

Sylvian first dreamed of working with guitarist Robert Fripp in 1986, but it took them a long time to do it. They only began to improvise and write as a pair at the end of 1991.

Fripp had urged Sylvian to return to the live stage, a position where he claimed he did not like being at the center of attention (Sylvian did not like being in the center of attention). Both the pair's concerts were, much like Sylvian's work in the studio, largely improved. They had no idea when they stepped out into the lights in Japan and Italy in 1992 that they would finish their night's work. Sylvian was confronted with his history one evening. He was encouraged to perform acoustic version of "Ghosts," Japan's biggest hit. It was the first time he'd touched it since 1983. 'It was really nice because it somehow fulfilled the audience's hope that I should play something from my songbook.' Sylvian wrote: It was the trio's first performance in Europe, but it was just Trey Gunn, Robert Fripp, and Sylvian who opened the eyes. They had some stuff that was a little bit knocked up one week before they went on the road, and so it was incredibly difficult, and just sitting on stage and trying to keep track of it was fascinating. Sylvian was not doing anything in the evening, and Robert Fripp was simply absorbed in what Robert Fripp was doing. And Sylvian soon discovered that it was a pleasant place to be. He loved the weather. It was all about reproducing the songs and presenting them in a certain way until that point. But that was different, and it piqued his interest, and it opened his eyes to the joys of performing.

Fripp and Sylvian produced the album The First Day between December 1992 and March 1993 at studios in New York and New Orleans, and it was released in 1987. The album, which was somewhat a departure for Sylvian, melded Sylvian's philosophical songs to funk workouts and experimental rock stylings that were very much in the tradition of Fripp's King Crimson.

They went back to the streets on their "The Road to Graceland Tour," which began in Tokyo on October 14th, 1993, in order to capitalize on the album's popularity. Michael Brook and Pat Mastelotto were the additional performers on stage with Sylvian, Fripp, and Gunn. Damage, a live recording that was released in 1994, was culled from the tour's remaining shows.

The installation Redemption – Approaching Silence – was the result of Sylvian and Fripp's final collaboration. The exhibition, which ran from 30 August to September 1994, was held at the P3 Art and Environment center in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Sylvian wrote and recited by Fripp, and the accompanying text was based on Sylvian's.

Sylvian undertook a one-man solo tour titled 'Slow Fire – A Personal Retrospective' in August 1995, with stops in Italy, Germany, Japan, Belgium, The Netherlands, England, Canada, and North America. The last show on the tour took place in New York City on November 11, 1995. The show featured songs from Sylvian's life, as well as playing piano and guitar.

Sylvian released Dead Bees on a Cake in 1999, his first solo album proper since Secrets of the Beehive 12 years ago. Once the album was mixed at Dave Kents Napa Studio, the project was complete, from the beginning to the end, with Dead Bees on a Cake extending from 1993 to 1998.

The album brought together the most diverse influences of all his recordings, from soul fusion to blues to Eastern-inflected spiritual chants, and the bulk of the songs' lyrics reflected the now 41-year-old Sylvian's inner tranquility resulting from his marriage, family, and faith. Guests included long-time friend Ryuichi Sakamoto, classically trained tabla player Talvin Singh, avant-garde guitarist Marc Ribot, jazz trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, and modern jazz guitarist Bill Frisell. Sylvian wrote, "I've been interested in deconstructing the familiar styles of popular song since the 1980s," she said, retaining the structure but removing the pillars of support. My work often returns to this question: how much of the framework can you delete while still being able to identify what is, after all, a familiar form?"

Sylvian released two compilation albums on Virgin Records: Everything and Nothing (2000), a two-disc retrospective, and Camphor (2002), both following the death Bees. Both albums featured previously released, remixed, and several new or previously unreleased tracks that Sylvian produced specifically for the projects. The retrospective collections put an end to Sylvian's involvement with Virgin, the break coming at the start of 2001.

The track "Linoleum" was released on Tweaker's album "The Attraction to All Things Uncertain" in 2001. On the project, Sylvian co-wrote and sang.

Sakamoto needed English lyrics for his project Zero Landmine, and so Sylvian was asked to write a simple, tender lyric that could be sung by children. Various versions of the song were released, one being a Sylvian vocal with just the backing of Sakamoto's piano.

Sylvian began in September 2001 and wound its way through Europe until October 27th. The tour lasted into 2002, with Japan returning to Japan and going to concerts in the United States and Canada. Jansen, keyboard player Matt Cooper, guitarist Timothy Young, and bassist Keith Lowe joined Sylvian on stage.

Samadhi Sound, Sylvian's former Virgin Records, was the start of his own independent label. Christian Fennesz and Derek Bailey contributed to the album Blemish, which featured contributions from Christian Fennesz and Derek Bailey. Sylvian took a different approach with this album, starting each day in the studio with a very simple improvisation on guitar. Once recorded, he'll look back and use cues from the improv—the explosive and so on—to determine the piece's design. He wrote lyrics and melody on the spot and would follow that with a vocal album.

Sylvian won the EP World Citizen's with Sakamoto, which was launched in Japan in October 2003, and in Europe in April 2004. Sylvian also collaborated on "Pure Genius," a Tweaker-related track, which was also released on the album 2 a.m. Wake Up Call.

Sylvian toured in Europe and Japan between September 2003 and April 2004 on the "Fire in the Forest Tour," starring Steve Jansen, with graphics and video photographs by Masakatsu Takagi.

Madhouse had recruited Sylvian to write the ending theme for Naoki Urasawa's Monster's anime version, titled "For The Love Of Life," with Japanese composer Kuniaki Haishima. Sylvian said he was "attracted to the Monster stuff because of its central character's moral dilemma."

Sylvian had initiated Nine Horses with Jansen and Berndt Friedman. In October 2005, they released Snow Borne Sorrow and Money for All in January 2007.

Sylvian took to the streets in Greece, Hong Kong, and Japan on September 17th to October 30th, 2007. 'The World Is Everything' tour featured Steve Jansen, Keith Lowe, and Takuma Watanabe. Sylvian was able to perform music from the Nine Horses project as well as several selections from his back catalogue, thanks to a mashup of styles, including jazz and electro. In 2007, Jansen released his solo album Slope, as well as two songs co-written by Sylvian: "Ballad of a Dead Man" (a duet with singer Joan Wasser) and "Playground Martyrs."

On September 14, 2009, a solo album named Manafon was released in two variations, a regular CD/digipak version and a twin boxset deluxe edition with two books that include the CD and a DVD containing the film 'Amplified Gesture'. Manafon featured contributions from top figures of electroacoustic experimentation, including saxophonist Evan Parker, multi-instrumentalist Otomo Yoshihide, laptop and guitarist Christian Fennesz, Polwechsel's double bassist Werner Dafelde, percussionist Eddie Prévost, and pianist John Tilbury, as well as Polwechsel's double bassist Keith Rowe, percussionist Eddie Prévost and pianist John Tilbury Sylvian said of Manafon in 2010:

Sylvian released Sleepwalkers, a compilation album of his collaborative performances with musicians over the past ten years, including songs with Ryuichi Sakamoto, Tweaker, Nine Horses, Steve Jansen, Christian Fennesz, and Arve Henriksen. Several new songs, such as "Sleepwalkers," were co-written with drummer Martin Brandlmayr of Radian and Polwechsel, were also included.

The double album Died in the Wool, 2011, was released as a result of Manafon's 2009 debut, which included collaborations with composer Dai Fujikura, designers Jan Bang and Erik Honoré, and a roster of contemporary musicians and improvisers. For the first time, a stereo mix of the audio installation "When We Return To You" (When We Return You Won't Recognise Us) was available on CD, combining a group of improvisers, including John Butcher, Arve Henriksen, Günter Müller, Toshimaru Nakamura, and Eddie Prévost with a string sextet directed by Fujikura.

Sylvian performed as the artist in residence at the Point Festival in Norway in 2011. Sylvian performed both compositions from the Holger Czukay-collaboration album Plight & Premonition, supported by John Tilbury, Jan Bang, Phillip Jeck, Eivind Aarset, Erik Honoré, and Arve Henriksen. In 2012, the positive reception led to the decision to tour around Europe. "The Implausible Beauty" tour was scheduled to feature a line-up of musicians, including Jan Bang, guitarist Eivind Aarset, pianist Sebastian Lexer, cellist Hildur Gudnadottir, and trumpeter Gunnar Halle, but it was postponed in late January 2012 due to a back injury that Sylvian sustained in late January 2012.

Sylvian's single "Do You Know Me Now?" was released in 2013. "Where's Your Gravity?" a one-time vinyl pressing published with a re-mastered version of "Where's Your Gravity?" On the B-side, there is no such thing.

Sylvian published No One Light in Sight, a long-form composition with contributions from Christian Fennesz and John Tilbury as well as American Pulitzer Prize winning poet Franz Wright of excerpts from Wright's own Kindertotenwald, a short story.

Sylvian also released Playing The Schoolhouse and Confront Recordings in two limited editions in 2015. The release, which was based on improvisations by Sylvian and Jan Bang, was recorded in a Norwegian schoolhouse and Toshimaru Nakamura, with contributions by Otomo Yoshihide and Toshimaru Nakamura. Sylvian collaborated with Confront Recordings again in 2017, this time with Mark Wastell (who operates Confront Recordings) and Rhodri Davies for the first time in the Confront Core Series, There Is No Love. The long-form composition was made from recently collected materials, as well as text from Bernard-Marie Koltès' In the Solitude of Cotton Fields.

Grönland Records released 'ERR', a photographic essay by Sylvian, in July 2021, with text by Shinya Fujiwara and an untitled original poem by Daisy Lafarge.

Sylvian met Ingrid Chavez, a singer and actress who had been a member of Prince's inner circle, while working on the Sakamoto single "Heartbeat." The couple married and moved to Minneapolis in the same year. Ameera-Daya (born 1993) and Isobel (born 1997). In 1997, the family moved from Minneapolis to a house outside Sonoma, California. They moved again, opening a new home and studio in Temple, New Hampshire, but Sylvian and Chavez were divorced in 2003.

Sylvian lived in the woods of southern New Hampshire's former home of an ashram, doing the bulk of his work in a barn that contained his home recording studio as of 2005.

In July 2018, Sylvian said:

Personal life

Sylvian met Ingrid Chavez, a singer and actress who had been in touch with Prince's inner circle in 1992 while working on Sakamoto's "Heartbeat." The couple married and then moved to Minneapolis in the same year. Ameera-Daya (born 1993) and Isobel (born 1997). In 1997, the family moved from Minneapolis to Sonoma, California. They remarried in 2003, but Sylvian and Chavez were divorced, as a result of their divorce.

In July 2018, Sylvian said:

Source

1980s–1990s: Solo career

Sylvian's debut of "Bamboo Houses/Bamboo Music" in 1982, in collaboration with Ryuichi Sakamoto. Sakamoto's first contribution to Sylvian's career was in fact co-writer of "Taking Islands in Africa" on the Japan album Gentlemen Take Polaroids (1980). Sylvian appeared on "Forbidden Colours," a Top 20 song on the 1983 Nagishima film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, working with Sakamoto.

Brilliant Trees, Sylvian's debut solo album, was a critical and commercial success in June 1984. Sakamoto, Kenny Wheeler, Jon Hassell, Holger Czukay, Ronny Drayton, Danny Thompson, Danny Thompson, Danny Thompson, Sylvian's former band members, brother Steve Jansen, and Richard Barbieri were among the album's contributors. With a promo video directed by Anton Corbijn, the lead single became the UK Top 20 single "Red Guitar."

Perspectives, a Polaroid exhibition held in London between 19 June and June 1984, was held at Hamiltons Gallery in London. The major exhibition of Sylvian's work coincided with the publication of his book "Perspectives 82-84," which included these photos. In Tokyo and Turin, there were also exhibitions.

Sylvian produced an important EP Words with Shaman in 1985, collaborating with Jansen, Hassell, and Czukay. When re-released as a compilation album, "Averity: An Index of Possibilities" was included on the album, which included "Steel Cathedrals," a piece performed with Sakamoto, Czukay, Jansen, Wheeler, Robert Fripp, and Masami Tsuchiya. The soundtrack to a 20-minute video was "Steel Cathedrals." In and around Tokyo, Japan, the short film was shot in two days of November 1984. A substantial portion of the song was recorded during the same month and then recorded over a period of three days. Sylvian later elaborated on the theme that had arisen in Japan and sought to raise the quality of the soundtrack in London. "Steel Cathedrals" would be his first encounter with improvisations.

Propaganda's single "p:Machinery" was released in 1985 by Sylvian's demonstration "Sylvian's Machine." Claudia Brücken said that Sylvian helped them with their writing and musical abilities on 'p-Machinery,' ultimately influencing the piece's overall tone and atmosphere.

The next release of Gone to Earth was a two-record set, with one track of atmospheric vocal tracks and another composed of ambient instrumentals. Bill Nelson (formerly of Be-Bop Deluxe) and Robert Fripp (of King Crimson) were among the album's rhythm section, as well as Ian Maidman of Penguin Cafe Orchestra on bass. The album, which was released on September 13, 1986, debuted on the UK Album charts as a top 24.

In early 1987, writing new content was supplemented by recording sessions at Chateau Miraval, South of France, and by May 1987, The Beehive's Secrets were complete, with the Beehive's finally being published in October 1987.

The Beehive's secrets made more use of acoustic instruments and were more oriented toward sombre, emotive ballads laced with string arrangements by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Brian Gascoigne. It remained at number 37 in the UK charts, despite the fact that it was only for two weeks.

In a 80-day world tour called "In Praise of Shamans," March to June 1988, the album was followed by his first live outing as a solo artist. Jansen, Barbieri, guitars, and keyboards from Robbie Aceto, brass and sax from Ian Maidman, bass, and lead guitar from David Torn appeared alongside Sylvian. In the setlist, there were no songs from Sylvians' former band Japan.

Sylvian wrote, "Beehive was the summation of all the solo stuff that came before it." "I knew when I had finished, I wouldn't be returning to the same waters again." The period immediately following the departure of...Beehive was the most difficult of my life. "A descent into hell" has been the descent.

It would be 1999 before he introduced his next solo offering as he began a long period of clinical depression. During the 1988 tour, the crisis began to rise. That toll, and Sylvian found himself in a frighteningly fragile situation, which he will experience in varying degrees of intensity over the next 3 to four years. Sylvian was unable to work in isolation, but he felt the need to launch himself into a collaborative venture after a collaborative initiative with the intention of recognizing the urgency in his responses. At those times, signs of the crisis were less apparent.

Ultimately, he left behind his Christian roots and pursued a variety of philosophies, from Gurdjief to Gnosticism, to Zen Buddhism, each of which left its mark in his songs and music, but ultimately, he settled on Buddhism as his primary spiritual path.

Sylvian was first one to fulfill commercial aspirations, but soon after, she collaborated with Holger Czukay. Sylvian performed a vocal for Czukay's album at Can's studio in Cologne in 1986. But instead, they began to improvise and recorded their first piece in three nights. Plight and Premonition were first published in March 1988, when Sylvian was still on tour. Flux and Mutability were released the following year, with Can members Jaki Liebezeit and Michael Karoli also contributing. Flux and Mutability were more spontaneous in conception than Plight and Premonition. So this was not planned in the event of Plight's unexpected genesis.

With the introduction of Weatherbox, an intricate boxed-set set compilation based on Sylvian's four previous solo albums and designed by Russell Mills, Virgin decided to put an end to the 1980s. Sylvian's non-album album "Pop Song" debuted alongside Weatherbox.

Sylvian worked with artists Russell Mills and Ian Walton in 1990 to create Ember Glance – The Perpetence of Memory. The exhibition was on view in Tokyo Bay, Shinagawa, Tokyo, between September and October 1990 at the temporary museum 'Space FGO-Soko'.

After a nine-year absence, the members of Japan joined together as Rain Tree Crow once more. The bulk of the text was written as a result of group collaborations, but there were no rehearsals. This writing style was an integral part of the entire project, and in some ways it was the catalyst for the collaboration. The Rain Tree Crow project had been planned as a long-term album contract, with Sylvian's insistence that the word Japan would not be used in conjunction with its advertising. However, the recording was based on money, and Virgin refused to invest more money unless the name Japan could be used. Sylvian's decision to personally fund the mixing of the album brought the resulting chaos. However, the group was no longer interested in re-forming, and the album was released as a one-off.

Sylvian first dreamt of collaborating with guitarist Robert Fripp in 1986, but it took them a long time to do it. They only started to improvise and write as a team at the end of 1991.

Fripp had encouraged Sylvian to return to the live stage, a scene where he claimed he did not like being the center of attention ('Sylvian didn't like being the center of attention'). Both of the pair's performances were largely improvised, like Sylvian's work in the studio. They had no idea when they walked out into the sunlight in 1992, nor did they know how they'd end their night's work, especially when they came out in the daylight. Sylvian was confronted with his past one evening. He was compelled to perform acoustic version of "Ghosts," Japan's biggest hit. It was the first time he'd touched it since 1983. 'It was definitely nice because it somehow fulfilled the audience's desire that I should perform something from my songbook,' Sylvian said no. It was the trio's debut in Europe, but only in Europe, Trey Gunn, Robert Fripp, and Sylvian, which was the eye opener. They had some stuff that was just knocked up a week before they went on the road, and so it was very tumultuous, and just sitting on stage and trying to keep track of it was fascinating. Sylvian was not doing anything during the evening, and Robert Fripp was simply absorbed in what Robert Fripp was doing. And Sylvian began to realize that it was a pleasant place to be. He loved the climate. It was all about reproducing the songs and presenting them in a specific way up to that point. But this was something else, and it began to worry him, and it opened up his eyes to performing.

Fripp and Sylvian produced the album The First Day in December 1992 and March 1993, then released the album in July 1993 at two New York and New Orleans studios. The album was a departure for Sylvian, melded Sylvian's philosophical lyrics to funk workouts and experimental rock stylings that were very much in the vein of Fripp's King Crimson.

They went back on the road for the album's success, starting in Tokyo on October 14th, 1993. Michael Brook and Pat Mastelotto were among the additional performers on stage with Sylvian, Fripp, and Gunn. Damage, a live recording that was released in 1994, was removed from the tour's final shows.

The installation Redemption – Approaching Silence – was the final collaboration between Sylvian and Fripp. The exhibition, which ran from 30 August to 18 September 1994, was held at the P3 Art and Environment center in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Sylvian wrote and read by Fripp, and the accompanying music was based on Sylvian's.

Sylvian undertook a one-man solo tour titled 'Slow Fire – A Personal Retrospective', with dates in Italy, Germany, Japan, Belgium, The Netherlands, Canada, and North America. On the 11th anniversary of the tour, it was performed in New York City at The Town Hall. The show featured songs from Sylvian's career, including singing, playing piano, and guitar.

Sylvian released Dead Bees on a Cake in 1999, his first solo album proper since Secrets of the Beehive 12 years ago. The album was finished at Dave Kents Napa Studio from the start to the end, with Dead Bees on a Cake eventually releasing in March 1999.

The album brought together the most varied influences of all his recordings, from soul jazz to blues to Eastern-inflected spiritual chanting, with the majority of the songs reflecting the former Sylvian's inner calm resulting from his marriage, family, and faith. Among the guest performers on the tour were long-time friend Ryuichi Sakamoto, classically trained tabla player Talvin Singh, avant-garde guitarist Marc Ribot, jazz trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, and contemporary jazz guitarist Bill Frisell. "Since the '80s, I've been interested in deconstructing the popular songs, but without removing the pillars of support," Sylvian said in 2010. My work often returns to this topic: how much of the framework can you delete while still being able to determine what is, after all, a familiar form."

Sylvian released two compilation albums on Virgin Records, including a two-disc retrospective, "Everything and Nothing" (2004), and an instrumental collection, Camphor 2002. Both albums featured previously released music, remixes, and a few new or previously unreleased tracks that Sylvian produced especially for the projects. The retrospective collections effectively put an end to Sylvian's relationship with Virgin, which dates back to 2001.

On Tweaker's album "All Things Uncertain," the track "Linoleum" was released in 2001. Sylvian co-wrote and sang on the project.

Sakamoto needed English lyrics for his project Zero Landmine, so he asked Sylvian to write a simple, tender lyric that could be sung by children. Various versions of the album were released, one being a Sylvian vocal with just the support of Sakamoto's piano.

Sylvian embarked on the 'Everything and Nothing Tour', a series that began in Osaka on September 17th and wound its way into Europe until October 27. The tour lasted into 2002, with visitors returning to Japan and visiting concerts in the United States and Canada. Cylvian was accompanied on stage by Jansen, keyboard player Matt Cooper, guitarist Timothy Young, and bassist Keith Lowe.

Samadhi Sound, Sylvian's departure from Virgin Records, has launched his own independent label. Christian Fennesz and Derek Bailey contributed to the album Blemish, which featured contributions from Christian Fennesz and Derek Bailey. Sylvian took a different approach with this album, beginning each day in the studio with a very basic improvisation on guitar. Once recorded, he would listen back and use cues from the improv—the dynamic and so on—to determine the piece's basic structure. He wrote lyrics and melody on the spot and would follow it up with a vocal album.

Sylvian won the EP World Citizen Award with Sakamoto, which was released in Japan in October 2003 and Europe in April 2004. On the album 2 a.m. Wakeup Call, Sylvian also collaborated with Chris Vrenna's Tweaker on the album "Pure Genius."

Sylvian toured in Europe and Japan between September 23-September 2003 and April 2004, 2004, bringing Steve Jansen and his wife Suzanne Jansen to Europe and Japan, as well as video and video images of Masakatsu Takagi.

"For The Love Of Life," a Madhouse commission for Salvian's anime adaptation of Naoki Urasawa's Monster, "For The Love Of Life," was commissioned by Madhouse in 2004. Kuniaki Haishima, a Japanese composer, was commissioned by Madhouse to write the ending theme. Sylvian said he was "attracted to Monster stuff due to the creature's moral dilemma faced by its central character."

Sylvian had initiated the Nine Horses project with Jansen and Berndt Friedman. In October 2005, they released Snow Borne Sorrow and Money for All in January 2007.

Sylvian took to the road on September 17th to October 30th, 2007, which featured concerts in Europe, Hong Kong, and Japan, as well as Takuma Watanabe. The tour brought Sylvian's music from the Nine Horses project as well as several selections from his back catalogue. In 2007, Jansen released his solo album Slope, which included two songs by Sylvian: "Ballad of a Dead Man" (a duet with singer Joan Wasser), and "Playground Martyrs."

On September 14, 2009, a solo album entitled Manafon was released in two editions – a regular CD/digipak version and a twin boxset deluxe edition with two books that include the CD and a DVD containing the film 'Amplified Gesture.' Manafon showcased contributions from leading figures in electroacoustic improvisation, such as saxophonist Evan Parker, multi-instrumentalist Otomo Yoshihide, notebook and guitarist Christian Fennesz, Polwechsel's double bassist Werner Dafo, cellist Werner Kaplan, and cellist Robert Moser, as well as percussionist and pianist John Tilbury, as well as pianist and composer Keith Rowe, percussionist Sylvian said, "Talking about Manafon" in 2010: Sylvian said:

Sylvian released Sleepwalkers, a compilation of his collaborative performances with musicians over the past ten years, including songs with Ryuichi Sakamoto, Tweaker, Nine Horses, Steve Jansen, Christian Fennesz, and Arve Henriksen. A few new songs, such as "Sleepwalkers," which was co-written with drummer Martin Brandlmayr of Radian and Polwechsel, were also included.

Died in the Wool, a 2011 collection of experimental musicians and improvisers, was released as variations on the 2009 release Manafon, which included collaborations with composer Dai Fujikura, designers Jan Bang and Erik Honoré, and a roster of contemporary musicians and improvisers. A stereo mix of the album "When We Return You Won't Recognise Us" by John Butcher, Arve Henriksen, Günter Müller, Toshimaru Nakamura, and Eddie Prévost were available on CD for the first time, combining a group of improvisers – John Butcher, Arve Henriksen, Toshimaru Nakamura, and Eddie Prévost with a string sextet

Sylvian performed as the artist in residence at the Punkt Festival in Norway in 2011. Sylvian performed both compositions from the Holger Czukay-collaborated album Plight & Premonition, supported by John Tilbury, Jan Bang, Phillip Jeck, Eivind Aarset, Erik Honoré, and Arve Henriksen. In 2012, a positive reception prompted the decision to tour around Europe. The Implausible Beauty" tour was supposed to feature a line-up of musicians, including Jan Bang, guitarist Eivind Aarset, pianist Sebastian Lexer, cellist Hildur Gudnadottir, and trumpeter Gunnar Halle, but it was postponed in late January 2012 due to a back injury sustained by Sylvian.

Sylvian's single "Do You Know Me Now?" appeared in 2013. "Where's Your Gravity, a one-time vinyl pressing" was released with a remastered version of "Where's Your Gravity?" On the B-side, there is a b-side.

Sylvian published There's a Light That Reaches Houses with No Other House in Sight, a long-form composition with contributions from Christian Fennesz and John Tilbury, as well as a spoken word by American Pulitzer Prize winner Franz Wright of excerpts from Wright's own Kindertotenwald.

Playing The Schoolhouse was released in two limited editions in 2015 by Sylvian. The release, a 15-minute long piece, was based on experiments by Sylvian and Jan Bang, with contributions by Otomo Yoshihide and Toshimaru Nakamura, and was recorded in a schoolhouse in Norway. In 2017, Sylvian collaborated with Confront Recordings' Mark Wastell (who operates Confront Recordings) and Rhodri Davies for the first time in the Confront Core Series, There Is No Love. The long-form composition was made from previously recorded materials, as well as text from Bernard-Marie Koltès' In the Solitude of Cotton Fields.

'ERR', a photographic essay by Sylvian, was released in July 2021 by Grönland Records, with text by Shinya Fujiwara and an unidentified original poem by Daisy Lafarge.

Sylvian met Ingrid Chavez, a musician and actress who had been a member of Prince's inner circle, while working on the Sakamoto single "Heartbeat." The couple married and moved to Minneapolis the same year. Ameera-Daya (born 1993) and Isobel (born 1997). In 1997, the family moved from Minneapolis to Sonoma, California. They migrated into a new home and studio in Temple, New Hampshire, but Sylvian and Chavez were divorced in 2003.

Sylvian spent the majority of his time in southern New Hampshire in the former home of an ashram, where he worked in a barn with his home recording studio as of 2005.

In July 2018, Sylvian said:

Source