‘Brilliant Trees’: Revisiting David Sylvian’s Sublime Solo Debut
After Japan ended on a high, their frontman struck out for pastures new.
Japan looked set to become one of the 80s biggest acts following the mainstream success of 1981’s exquisite, Far Eastern-flavored Tin Drum. However, following a grueling supporting tour lasting much of 1982, frontman David Sylvian surprised his public by dissolving the band and embarking on a solo career commencing with 1984’s daring Brilliant Trees.
With Tin Drum going gold and Japan’s profile at its highest, it’s fair to say the spotlight was on Sylvian as he set sail on his maiden solo voyage. However, if the singer and composer was fazed, he certainly didn’t show it. Instead, he hungrily embraced his new-found artistic freedom by drafting in some of his favorite musicians such as Yellow Magic Orchestra’s Ryuichi Sakamoto, former Can bassist and composer Holger Czukay, and jazz/avant garde trumpeter Jon Hassell and began work on Brilliant Trees at Berlin’s Hansa Studios: the German complex famous for hothousing classic albums such as David Bowie’s “Heroes” and Iggy Pop’s Lust for Life.
Listen to David Sylvian’s Brilliant Trees now.
Recalling this artistic regeneration in a post on his official YouTube channel in 2021, Sylvian said “These sessions in Berlin were my first step in creating what would become Brilliant Trees and my initial move away from the structure of the band. It was one of the happiest experiences I can recall while signed with a major label. Because of the success of having everyone meet in Berlin, a city native to no-one involved, it felt like an adventure.”
This same spirit of adventure pervades the best of Brilliant Trees, which was completed after additional sessions at several London studios and first released through Virgin in June 1984. Featuring contributions from Sylvian’s Japan colleagues Steve Jansen (drums) and Richard Barbieri (keyboards), the album’s opening cut “Pulling Punches” sounds like the logical successor to Tin Drum’s funkier outings, but from then on, the album detours down less familiar paths. It remains on first-name terms with mainstream pop on “Red Guitar” and the warm, Pablo Picasso-referencing “The Ink In The Well,” though it drifts off into dreamy, Brian Eno-esque ambience on “Weathered Wall” and the slow, droning “Backwaters” and even sounds like a precursor of Talk Talk’s minimal masterpiece, Spirit Of Eden, on the hymnal, 8-minute titular song.
Yet, for all its excursions, Brilliant Trees hangs together extremely well to this day. Though often graceful and serene in design, it never gets too introspective for its own good and the inclusion of the sublime pop of “Red Guitar” ensured it could gain traction on the charts on its initial release. In fact after that song’s U.K. Top 20 success – and rave reviews such as Melody Maker’s, which dubbed it “a masterpiece” – Brilliant Trees climbed to No. 4 on the U.K. Album chart, proving that there was indeed life after Japan for David Sylvian.
“I hope the mutual respect and good humor of everyone involved comes across with their seriousness and committed nature to the [Brilliant Trees] material,” Sylvian said, recalling the album in 2021. “People arrived with such a spirit of openness and receptivity at the sessions and I went on to repeat this process when making future albums such as Secrets Of The Beehive, Rain Tree Crow, and The First Day among others.”
