David Sylvian (born David Alan Batt, 23 February 1958) is an English singer-songwriter and musician who came to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead vocalist and main songwriter in the group Japan. His subsequent solo work is described by AllMusic critic Jason Ankeny as "a far-ranging and esoteric career that encompassed not only solo projects but also a series of fascinating collaborative efforts."Sylvian's solo work has been influenced by a variety of musical styles and genres, including jazz, avant-garde, ambient, electronic, and progressive rock. 　　In 2010 Sylvian released a compilation disc of his collaborative works with musicians over the last 10 years – Sleepwalkers includes songs with Ryuichi Sakamoto, Tweaker, Nine Horses, Steve Jansen, Christian Fennesz and Arve Henriksen. Also included are a few new songs such as Sleepwalkers which is co-written with drummer Martin Brandlmayr of Radian and Polwechsel. 　　In 2011, the double disc Died in the Wool was released as variations on the 2009 release Manafon with the addition of six new pieces, including collaborations with composer Dai Fujikura, producers Jan Bang and Erik Honoré, and a roster of contemporary musicians and improvisers. For the first time, a stereo mix of the audio installation "When We Return You Won't Recognise Us" is available on CD, pairing a group of improvisers – John Butcher, Arve Henriksen, Günter Müller, Toshimaru Nakamura, and Eddie Prévost – with a string sextet directed by Fujikura. 　　Also in 2011, Sylvian acted as the artist in residence at the Punkt Festival in Norway. In addition to curating the events of the festival, Sylvian performed both compositions from the Holger Czukay-collaborated album Plight & Premonition, backed by John Tilbury, Jan Bang, Phillip Jeck, Eivind Aarset, Erik Honoré, and Arve Henriksen. The positive reception led to the decision to tour throughout Europe in 2012. The Implausible Beauty tour was due to feature a lineup of musicians including Jan Bang, guitarist Eivind Aarset, pianist Sebastian Lexer, cellist Hildur Gudnadottir and trumpeter Gunnar Halle. The tour was cancelled in late January 2012 due to Sylvian's poor health. In 2013, Sylvian released Do You Know Me Now?, a one-time pressing released with a re-mastered version of "Where's Your Gravity?" In 2014, Sylvian released There's a Light That Enters Houses with No Other House in Sight, a long-form composition with contributions from Christian Fennesz and John Tilbury and featuring spoken word by American Pulitzer Prize winning poet Franz Wright of excerpts from Wright's own Kindertotenwald. 　　In 2015, Sylvian released Playing The Schoolhouse with Confront Recordings in two limited editions. The release, a fifteen minute composition, was composed based on improvisations by Sylvian and Jan Bang - with contributions by Otomo Yoshihide and Toshimaru Nakamura - and was recorded in a schoolhouse in Norway.Sylvian would collaborate again with Confront Recordings in 2017, in effort with Mark Wastell (who runs Confront Recordings) and Rhodri Davies for the first release of the Confront Core Series, There Is No Love. The long-form composition was created with previously recorded materials, and features text from Bernard-Marie Koltès's In the Solitude of Cotton Fields.