Rhodri DAVIES – David SYLVIAN – Mark WASTELL
“There is no love”

Rhodri Davies : lap harp, table harp, vibraphone, radio
David Sylvian : voice, vocal treatments, electronics
Mark Wastell : tam tam, cracked ride cymbal, chimes, indian temple bells, singing bowls, metal chain, tubular bell, concert bass drum
A collaborative work between Rhodri Davies, David Sylvian and Mark Wastell, and slowly pieced together over a decade-long timespan, the eerie reading that makes up the piece There Is No Love is a welcome addition to the catalogue of the three artists. An example of onkyo-infused prose poetry littered with bells, light percussional touches and a sparing usage of what could be interpreted as “melody”, There Is No Love features a haunting recitation of Bernard-Marie Koltes’ 1985 play In the Solitude of Cotton Fields, focusing on a shadowy late-night rendezvous between the mysterious dealer and the seedy client. The exchange between these characters and their dialogue evokes a sense of danger, of incoming violence, or of sexual abandon; repetitions that affirm an absence of the concept of “love” amidst lamentations of injustices, melancholy, and humility are littered throughout the story being told – the dealer slowly ensnares his “melancholy virgin” client, luring him to indulge in the pleasures he is peddling. The client observes his surroundings, full of things that are devoid of emotion, and full of “decomposing memories”; his despair is what leads him to the dealer on that night.