Dead Can Dance

Dead Can Dance
Dead Can Dance at Primavera Sound in Barcelona, Spain, 2013
Background information
OriginMelbourne, Australia
Genres
Years active1981–1998, 2005, 2011–present
Labels4AD, Warner Bros., Rhino/Atlantic, Rykodisc, PIAS
MembersLisa Gerrard
Brendan Perry
Past membersPaul Erikson
Simon Monroe
James Pinker
Scott Rodger
Richard Yale
Peter Ulrich
John Bonnar
Websitedeadcandance.com

Dead Can Dance are a British-Australian band founded in Melbourne in 1981 by Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard before the pair relocated to London the following year. They signed with independent label 4AD and were initially associated with the UK's gothic scene before developing a style that incorporated European medieval and Renaissance music traditions alongside ambient pop, darkwave, and world music elements. Beginning with their 1985 album Spleen and Ideal, the band helped to pioneer the neoclassical darkwave subgenre.

The band reached their commercial peak with 1993's Into the Labyrinth, which appeared in the Billboard 200 and made the group 4AD's highest-selling act. Having temporarily disbanded in 1998, they reunited in 2005 for a world tour, and again in 2011 to release and tour the album Anastasis. They released their most recent album, Dionysus, in 2018, and toured Europe in 2022.