Anastasis

After a 14-year hiatus, Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry reunited for Anastasis, an album that expands the classic Dead Can Dance sound while also delivering songs that feel like warm reprisals of the band’s most beloved motifs. The duo’s reformation was a momentous occasion, a sentiment that's heralded in “Children of the Sun,” a slow-burning epic that feels huge and climatic in just the right fashion. At the same time, “Anabasis” could be something from The Serpent’s Egg, from 25 years earlier, with Gerrard’s voice snaking around a carefully plucked melody. “Amnesia” and “Kiko” echo even earlier stages of the duo’s lifespan, specifically their first albums, which utilized ethereal drones and slow marching rhythms. This isn't to suggest Anastasis is an attempt to rekindle the past. On the contrary, the album is powerful precisely because Gerrard and Perry have matured as musicians and individuals. Rather than self-plagiarism, the reprisal of old ideas becomes a re-exploration of the contents of their relationship. The underlying image behind this work is that of two old partners revisiting the changed landscape of their past.