DAVID SYLVIAN Manafon (2009 UK Deluxe Edition 2-disc [CD/DVD] album box set. While 2003's 'Blemish' startled long-time fans with its emotional rigour, Sylvian has taken the next step with his first solo album in six years. During sessions in London, Vienna & Tokyo, Sylvian assembled the world's leading improvisers and innovators, artists who explore free improvisation, space-specific performance, and live electronics. From Evan Parker and Keith Rowe, to Fennesz and members of Polwechsel, to Sachiko M and Otomo Yoshihide, the musicians provide both a backdrop and a counterweight to his own vocal performances. Apart from one instrumental, the vocals are nakedly at the center of each piece. Intuition drew Sylvian to these pieces and these players, and the surprises they bring: a cello visiting like a warm hand on a forehead, the unpredictable use of unadulterated sine waves, the brassy path of Evan Parker's soprano sax solo. 'Manafon' has a forbidding core, but aesthetically, each piece is an engrossing discovery. This two disc set includes the nine track CD album plus a bonus Region 0 NTSC DVD featuring the entire album in superior 5.1 Surround Sound and Stereo as well as the 55-minute 'Amplified Gesture' documentary. The two discs come in separate hard back, cloth-bound volumes which are themselves inside a cloth-bound rigid slip case. Volume One is a forty page book containing the complete lyrics from 'Manafon' and artwork from the artists Atsushi Fukui & Ruud Van Empel, while Volume Two comes with a twenty four page book accompanying the documentary, with foreword by Clive Bell & photos and biographies of all of the contributors to the documentary. Each of the three cloth-bound items feature gold embossed lettering & the package is completed by an accompanying 18.5cm x 23.5cm black on white high quality print of a portrait of David Sylvian by Atsushi Fukui! SOUNDCDSS016DX).