Track Listing

1. In Exile
2. Shadow Hunter
3. Come Tenderness
4. The Sea Whisperer
5. Mirror Medusa
6. Space Weaver
7. Abwoon
8. Serenity
9. Towards The Tower
10. Wandering Star
11. Sword Of The Samurai
12. Devotion
13. The Valley Of The Moon
14. Entry

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #47830 in Music
• Released on: 2007-05-08
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
The title of the album is "The Silver Tree", not Silver Tree.

Amazon.com
Few artists last long in the rarefied terrain occupied by singer Lisa Gerrard over the last quarter-century. She shares a passion with composers like Arvo Pärt in the unrelenting pursuit of the divine. In fact, Gerrard evokes Pärt a few times on The Silver Tree, her first non-collaborative solo release since The Mirror Pool in 1995. The Silver Tree is an album of ancient echoes, ghostly refrains, and hymns to the heavens. On "Abwoon," she intones the Lord's Prayer in Aramaic, orchestrating her own voice in choral harmonies that unfold beneath her like winds on waves. But "Spaceweaver" sends chills through the soul as Gerrard unlocks this peculiar nasal, back-of-the-throat snarl that she only adopts on such tracks, with a menacing blues groove that recalls "Meltdown" from her score to The Insider. You can hear much of Gerrard's soundtrack work mirrored here: "The Sea Whisperer" picks up at the spirit-affirming end of "Now We Are Free" from Gladiator. And I suspect that the 10-minute opus "Towards the Tower" might be her rejected overture for the film Constantine. With Ligeti-like voices, suspended glissando strings, and ominous percussion shifts, it certainly would work in the cinematic context of a supernatural thriller. The album has been available for half a year in Australia (worldwide via digital download), so as a bonus, the American release tacks on a bonus track, "Entry." Its thudding electronic drum loop and sketchy vocal makes for a disruptive exit. But until you get there, The Silver Tree is an embracing experience. Whether singing Aramaic, English, or that language of her imagination, Lisa Gerrard makes the most heavenly music heard on earth--and maybe beyond. --John Diliberto

Customer Reviews

Prayerful, haunting music
I had never heard any of Lisa Gerrard's music. I am not familiar with Dead Can Dance, nor have I heard any of her soundtrack work. So I truly do come to this music without any preconceptions or expectations.

And I am now an instant fan.

I can see why Ms. Gerrard would be sought after as a music score composer. "The Silver Tree" is a very cinematic album. The music is spacious, and suggests that it may be telling some ambiguous story. I agree with the comments that others have made about "dark" balancing "light." It truly does feel like a journey of the soul, with moments of sorrow and joy, loss and ecstasy. It has a mournful quality, as if the music itself is weeping.

I see in the other reviews that many of the disappointed listeners may be victims of their own expectation since this doesn't "sound like her other work." I can only say that I may be in danger of being a "reverse victim"; I am so entranced by this music, I fear that her previous works will leave me disappointed! (However, I do intend to seek out her Dead Can Dance discography anyway.)

This is the kind of music that instantly sets me on a search to find more that sounds just like it. I have a feeling that in this case I just won't find much that will match the unique qualities of The Silver Tree. It's a one of a kind.

Lisa Gerrard has bared her soul, and it is a wonderful gift she gives us. If you pray or meditate, I think you will find Lisa Gerrard to be a worthy companion.

A Whispered Prayer
Lisa Gerrard is one of those rarest of musicians: she often manages to bore me, despite her amazing talent and almost superhuman vocal abilities. I love her when she's at her most intense (DCD's "Cantara") and in her rare blissful moments ("Nadir (Synchronicity)"), but at times her style is too repetitive, or worse, "New Age-y". So I'm surprised to find that I really love this album, despite the fact that it's neither intense nor joyous. Most of the songs here are like somber prayers, and musically the album is so minimalist that it could almost be called ambient music. In fact, my least favorite songs on the album are the few that stray from this formula, in which she tries to pick up the pace a bit or inject some of her old new age/world music styling. These few songs ruin the cohesiveness of the album, but otherwise I think it's great. Granted, it's not sunny day driving music...this is the sort of album you play as background music while reading in bed late at night. I can appreciate people's complaints that it is boring, but I actually love it for its quiet beauty.

Prayerful, Haunting Music
I had never heard any of Lisa Gerrard's music. I am not familiar with Dead Can Dance, nor have I heard any of her soundtrack work. So I truly do come to this music without any preconceptions or expectations.

And I am now an instant fan.

I can see why Ms. Gerrard would be sought after as a music score composer. "The Silver Tree" is a very cinematic album. The music is spacious, and suggests that it may be telling some ambiguous story. It truly does feel like a journey of the soul, with moments of sorrow and joy, loss and ecstasy. It has a mournful quality, as if the music itself is weeping.

I see in the other reviews that many of the disappointed listeners may be victims of their own expectations since this doesn't "sound like her other work." I can only say that I may be in danger of being a "reverse victim"; I am so entranced by this music, I fear that her previous works will leave me disappointed! (EDITED TO ADD: This did indeed turn out to be the case! After initially writing this review, I purchased some DCD music... and failed to connect with it at the same level that I did with "The Silver Tree".)

This is the kind of music that instantly sets me on a search to find more that sounds just like it. I have a feeling that in this case I just won't find much that will match the unique qualities of The Silver Tree. It's a one of a kind.

Lisa Gerrard has bared her soul, and it is a wonderful gift she gives us. If you pray or meditate, I think you will find Lisa Gerrard to be a worthy companion.