Prepare to weep, Bauhaus’ David J has swapped out his strumming guitar for melancholic piano, in a definitive new version of his 1983 classic “I Only Hear Silence Now”, all in all evoking the same sorrowful vibe as the infamous Gary Jules cover of Tears for Fear’s “Mad World”, but perhaps even still more sombre and forlorn.
The new version “I Only Hear Silence Now” features Emily Jane White on piano and vocals, who together with the maestro Haskins, swirl around softly in an elliptical orbit around a dying star.
This stunning rendition of an already impressive track can be found on David’s double album ‘Missive to an Angel from the Halls of Infamy and Allure’, which came out in October of 2019.
“I Only Hear Silence Now” originally appeared on David J’s 1983 debut solo album Etiquette of Violence. The accompanying video features both artists. Filmed by Pierre Malacarnet and David J, it was edited by Malacarnet and produced jointly by David J and Si Je Veux Production.
“This video was pieced together over several months. Most of the footage was shot by the intrepid Pierre Malacarnet at Beck Studios in Wellingborough, the site of the original Bauhaus recording of ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’. I filmed the game and lovely Emily Jane White in a 19th Century bathtub in San Francisco. Pierre then shot some other cutaway scenes in Berlin and edited the whole thing together quite brilliantly. The mood of the film resonates perfectly with that of the music,” says David J.
Watch the video below:
Not long ago, David J also released the video for ‘Copper Level 7’, which he filmed together with Johnette Napolitano and Pierre Malacarnet, who also edited. Once again, this is a co-production of David J and Si Je Veux Production.
This double album, intended as a cyclic swan-song, is a culmination of everything David J has created in the past 36 years of solo and collaborative work, It entails a highly ambitious and intensely personal, self-deprecating, confessional song series, detailing a period of profound transition.
Apart from Emily Jane White, the new album features contributions from Anton Newcombe (Brian Jonestown Massacre), Toby Dammit (Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds), Paul Wallfisch (Swans), Sean Eden (Luna), Rose McGowan, Asia Argento, Annabel (lee) and the great Czech violinist Karel Holas.
The new material was recorded in Prague, Berlin and L.A., as well as Beck Studios in Wellingborough, UK, where Bauhaus cut their seminal ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’ back in 1979. This is a ‘coming home’ of sorts as Glass Modern Records is essentially the reactivated Glass Records, the label that released David J’s earliest critically acclaimed solo works.
Ahead of this album, David J released two singles – ‘The Auteur (Redux / The Starlet’s Cut)’ featuring actress, activist and writer Rose McGowan and ‘Migena And The Frozen Roses’ featuring actress Asia Argento and Brian Jonestown Massacre frontman Anton Newcombe. A two-track version of the single, including David’s rendition of ‘Read ‘Em ‘N Weep’ (written by Ian Hunter), is available exclusively via Bandcamp.
David J will be supporting this album with a string of solo live performances and will join Bauhaus in playing five new shows, bringing his distinct charm and sonic swagger to audiences in New Mexico, California, New York, the UK, Mexico, Spain, and Greece. The ‘Missive to an Angel from the Halls of Infamy and Allure’ LP is available on double vinyl, CD and digitally via Bandcamp.
Tickets for live performances are available here
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