Garden of the Arcane Delights

Garden of the Arcane Delights
EP by Dead Can Dance
Released	1984
Genre	Darkwave, gothic rock
Length	14:59
Label	4AD
Producer	Lisa Gerrard, Brendan Perry
Dead Can Dance chronology
Dead Can Dance (1984) Garden of the Arcane Delights (1984) Spleen and Ideal (1985)

Garden of the Arcane Delights is the first and only EP by Australian band Dead Can Dance. It was released in August 1984, through record label 4AD. The tracks were later added to Dead Can Dance's self titled debut album when it was re-released on CD.

Background

The cover art is a sketch done by Brendan Perry and represents the themes of the song "The Arcane". As Perry explains:

The naked blindfolded figure, representing primal man deprived of perception, stands, within the confines of a garden (the world) containing a fountain and trees laden with fruit. His right arm stretches out – the grasping for knowledge – towards a fruit bearing tree, its trunk encircled by a snake. In the garden wall – the wall between freedom and confinement – are two gateways: the dualistic notion of choice. It is a Blakean universe in which mankind can only redeem itself, can only rid itself of blindness, through the correct interpretation of signs and events that permeate the fabric of nature's laws.^{[citation needed]}

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Piero Scaruffi	7/10

AllMusic described the EP as "the clear transition between the group's competent but derivative goth start and something much, much more special."

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Dead Can Dance (Lisa Gerrard, Brendan Perry). 

Side A
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Carnival of Light"	3:31
2.	"In Power We Entrust the Love Advocated"	4:11

Side B
No.	Title	Length
1.	"The Arcane"	3:49
2.	"Flowers of the Sea"	3:28

External links

• Garden of the Arcane Delights at Discogs (list of releases)
• Garden of the Arcane Delights on the band's official website