Released 25 November 1985 Artist Dead Can Dance Label Sonic Records | Length 38:11 Release date 30 November 1984 | |
 | ||
Recorded September–November 1985 at Woodbine Studios, Warwickshire, England Producer Dead Can Dance, John A. Rivers Spleen and Ideal
(1985) Within the Realm of a Dying Sun
(1987) Genres World music, Dark wave, Gothic rock, Ethereal wave, Post-punk, Neoclassical dark wave Similar Dead Can Dance albums, Ethereal wave albums, Other albums | ||
Dead can dance de profundis out of the depths of sorrow
Spleen and Ideal is the second studio album by Irish / Australian musical act Dead Can Dance. It was released on 25 November 1985 by record label 4AD. The album features a transition between the band's post-punk and gothic rock-influenced debut album towards a darkwave style.
Contents
Dead can dance de profundis out of the depths of sorrow
Background
The band's official website stated that the album title was taken "from 19th Century symbolist ideals". The title is directly taken from "Spleen et Idéal", a collection of poems by French poet Charles Baudelaire which form a section of his magnum opus Les Fleurs du mal.
Discussing the album's musical style, AllMusic commented that with Spleen and Ideal, Dead Can Dance "fully took the plunge into the heady mix of musical traditions that would come to define its sound and style for the remainder of its career. The straightforward goth affectations are exchanged for a sonic palette and range of imagination".
Track listing
All tracks written by Dead Can Dance.
Critical reception
In a retrospective review, AllMusic praised the album, calling it "amazing [...] 'haunting' and 'atmospheric' barely [scratch] even the initial surface of the album's power".
Personnel
Songs
1De Profundis (Out of the Depths of Sorrow)4:00
2Ascension3:06
3Circumradiant Dawn3:17