DAVID SYLVIAN BOOK

A new career-spanning book, Hypergraphia: The Writings of David Sylvian 1980-2014, will be published in early November. From the press release: "Spanning a duration of over thirty years, Hypergraphia includes previously unpublished material, as well as conversations with the influential improvisational guitarist and founding member of the group AMM, Keith Rowe and the ever-insightful writer and musicologist Marcus Boon. The volume includes aspects of Sylvian's own photographic work as well as selections by some of the most reputable and innovative artists working today and its design celebrate the longstanding collaboration between Sylvian and acclaimed designer Chris Bigg (below). English singer-songwriter and musician David Sylvian came to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead vocalist and main songwriter in the group Japan. Their hits included Ghosts and a cover version of I Second That Emotion. His subsequent solo work is described as 'a far-ranging and esoteric career that encompassed not only solo projects but also a series of fascinating collaborative efforts'." Pre-order at AmazonUK and Amazon.

FRANZ WRIGHT R.I.P.

Pulitzer Prize-winnig poet, Franz Wright, passed away this week. He was the son of James Wright, who won the Pulitzer for poetry in 1972. Franz wrote bluntly about addiction and illness, and his recent collaboration with composer/musician David Sylvian (of Japan fame) captured a raw, human quality that managed, like an Uta Barth photograph, to find beauty in the small observations of the body and mind from moment to moment. Wright won the Pulitzer in 2004. He was working on a new book at the time of his death. Learn more about Franz Wright at the Washington Post, Poetry Foundation, David Sylvian, Below: preview of There's a Light That Enters Houses With no Other House in Sight by Franz Wright and David Sylvian, with contributions by Christian Fennesz and John Tilbury. The album is available at Amazon here. Album website here.