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Formed in 1981 by Australian duo Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry, Dead Can Dance has never stopped evolving stylistically. While early work pulled inspiration from the gothic rock and ethereal wave genres, the band quickly pivoted to more progressive concepts, helping to pioneer neoclassical darkwave in the mid-1980s. Their inclusion of strings, choirs, church bells, organs, ritualistic chanting, and soaring vocals often sung in a language invented by Gerrard, creates an eerie, ancient quality that often sounds spiritual in nature. Later releases find the duo delving further into world music, interpreting traditional medieval and Renaissance folk songs, and incorporating African, Arabic, Caribbean, Turkish, Greek, Iranian, and Balkan influence into their work for an increasingly percussion-heavy new age sound.
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