Spiritchaser

Spiritchaser
Studio album by Dead Can Dance
Released	3 June 1996
Recorded	Quivvy Church, Ireland
Genre	Worldbeat, neoclassical dark wave
Length	51:57
Label	4AD 4AD/Warner Bros. Records 46230 (US)
Producer	Brendan Perry
Dead Can Dance chronology
Toward the Within (1994) Spiritchaser (1996) Dead Can Dance (2001)

Spiritchaser is the seventh studio album by Dead Can Dance, and would prove to be the last before the duo reunited fourteen years later for Anastasis. It expands on its exploration of world music, and like Into the Labyrinth, was recorded at Quivvy Church, Brendan Perry's personal studio in Ireland.

The album was dedicated to Lisa Gerrard's deceased brother, Mark Gerrard.

The track "Indus" contains a melody that is very similar to that of "Within You Without You", a Beatles song that George Harrison wrote and recorded with Indian musicians in 1967. Although their use of a similar melody was not deliberate, Perry and Gerrard were asked to contact Harrison for his permission to use it; he granted it, but the record company insisted that they give him partial songwriting credit on "Indus".[1]

In 2020, Spiritchaser was named by Brazilian metal musician Max Cavalera as his favorite "non-metal" album ever.[2]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
Entertainment Weekly	B+[4]
Muzik	[5]
Pitchfork	8.4/10[6]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Nierika"	5:44
2.	"Song of the Stars"	10:13
3.	"Indus"	9:23
4.	"Song of the Dispossessed"	4:55
5.	"Dedicacé Outò"	1:14
6.	"The Snake and the Moon"	6:11
7.	"Song of the Nile"	8:00
8.	"Devorzhum"	6:13

Release history

Country	Date
Australia	3 June 1996
United States	25 June 1996

Personnel

Personnel adapted from Spiritchaser liner notes.

Dead Can Dance

• Lisa Gerrard – vocals, instrumentation, production
• Brendan Perry – vocals, instrumentation, production

Additional personnel

• Robert Perry – percussion (tracks 1 and 5)
• Lance Hogan – percussion (tracks 1 and 5)
• Peter Ulrich – percussion (tracks 1 and 5)
• Rónán Ó Snodaigh – percussion (tracks 1 and 5)
• Renaud Pion – Turkish clarinet (track 3)
• Klaus Vormehr – engineering (tracks 1 and 5)

Charts

Weekly charts Weekly chart performance for Spiritchaser Chart (1996) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[7] 93 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[8] 25 Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[9] 46 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[10] 48 European Albums (Music & Media)[11] 56 French Albums (SNEP)[12] 15 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[13] 31 Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[14] 36 UK Albums (OCC)[15] 43 UK Independent Albums (OCC)[16] 6 US Billboard 200[17] 75 US World Albums (Billboard)[18] 1

Year-end charts Year-end chart performance for Spiritchaser Chart (1996) Position US World Albums (Billboard)[19] 11

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United States	—	205,000[20]

References

1. "Global Spirits: Dead Can Dance make world music mystical". Archived from the original on 23 September 2006.
2. "Max Cavalera: "Metal survived disco, it survived grunge. Metal can survive anything"". 2 November 2019. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
3. link
4. "Dead Can Dance – Spiritchaser (album review ) – Sputnikmusic". Sputnikmusic.
5. James, Martin (July 1996). "Dead Can Dance: Spiritchaser" (PDF). Muzik. No. 14. p. 127. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2022. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
6. "Dead Can Dance: Spiritchaser: Pitchfork Record Review". 29 June 2007. Archived from the original on 29 June 2007.
7. Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 76.
8. "Ultratop.be – Dead Can Dance – Spiritchaser" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
9. "Top RPM Albums: Issue 3047". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
10. "Dutchcharts.nl – Dead Can Dance – Spiritchaser" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
11. "European Top 100 Albums". Music & Media. Vol. 13, no. 29. 20 July 1996. p. 14. OCLC 29800226.
12. "Lescharts.com – Dead Can Dance – Spiritchaser". Hung Medien. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
13. "Offiziellecharts.de – Dead Can Dance – Spiritchaser" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
14. "Album Top 40 slágerlista – 1996. 26. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
15. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
16. "Independent Albums". Music Week. 6 July 1996. p. 24. ISSN 0265-1548.
17. "Billboard 200 – Week of July 13, 1996". Billboard. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
18. "World Albums – Week of August 24, 1996". Billboard. Archived from the original on 7 April 2022. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
19. "1996 The Year in Music – Top World Music Albums". Billboard. Vol. 108, no. 52. 28 December 1996. p. YE-80. ISSN 0006-2510 – via Google Books.
20. "World's greatest". Billboard. 16 June 2007. Retrieved 31 March 2018.

External links

• Spiritchaser samples at the band's official website
• Spiritchaser lyrics at Genius.com
• Spiritchaser at MusicBrainz (list of releases)