Garden of the Arcane Delights

"Garden of the Arcane Delights" (1984) was released by the group Dead Can Dance on 4AD. This was the only EP release by Dead Can Dance and it was originally released as a 12" record. Later, the four songs were added to Dead Can Dance's self titled debut album when it was re-released on CD.

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.

Track listing

ide A

# "Carnival of Light" - 3:31
# "In Power We Entrust the Love Advocated" - 4:11

ide B

# "The Arcane" - 3:49
# "Flowers of the Sea" - 3:28