The Carnival is Over

Dead Can Dance, during the course of their now-defunct career, purveyed a style of music that was like no other, defying preconceived categories and breaking down whatever generic boundaries there might be. Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry proffered an ethnic-fusion approach that took in diverse elements like sinister Goth-rock, stately medieval cantatas, swirling Middle Eastern cadences, propulsive tribal inflections and rustic Eastern European folk, making for a musical brew that is at once intoxicating, challenging, refined and cerebral. Inevitable charges of art-wankery might have prevailed, but there’s no denying the unique draw of their music. This particular, peculiar musical combination is neatly summarised in the dark-toned, ominous modalities of 1993’s ‘The Carnival is Over’, a brilliantly unusual synthesis of Joy Division’s post-punk angularity and traditional English-troubadour ballad sensibilities, ably supported by one of the most amazing, kaleidoscopic videos ever made in the 1990s.