A Passage in Time

After an astonishing five-album run that lasted from 1984 to 1990, Dead Can Dance released the 1991 career retrospective *A Passage in Time*. The band—primarily the duo of Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry, with a revolving cast of guest musicians—was a surprise success story. No one could have predicted that Dead Can Dance\'s singular mix of ancient spiritual culture, world music, and rock would in any way catch on, but by the \'90s they\'d sold hundreds of thousands of albums and amassed a devoted fanbase. These songs show why. “Saltarello” and “The Host of Seraphim” become modern-day standards (and ubiquitous in Hollywood films) because they weren\'t watered-down imitations of medieval and Celtic music. What Gerrard and Perry did was truly unique, and their conviction and ingenuity was such that the music could actually live up to its intense spiritual implications. That the duo recorded most of these songs before either turned 30 only intensifies the underlying wisdom and imagination of their creation.