As the old saying goes : "There's a time and place for everything". Times and places for moods, times and places for feelings, times and places for music. While I'm not averse to bursting into my room, bunging the volume up and entering a state of aural overload; sometimes the need to just lie back, switch off the lights and let sounds cocoon you takes hold. There's a time and place for everything.

Now, for me, Dead Can Dance fit into that category nicely. At the foreground, their music is soothing, evocative, almost soporific; the almost-classical melodies, the percussion and the singing of Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard (who later went on to score film soundtracks of The Insider and Gladiator) resonate off the walls, creating a vivid tapestry of music. Peel back the visible layers, however, and you are left with music with a profound mournful feeling; which as background music, makes it unparalleled, however also makes for uneasy active listening - which is part of the appeal of Dead Can Dance.

Towards The Within is a recording of their show at The Mayfair Theatre, in Santa Monica; and thankfully the sound quality is of a high enough quality to be able to hear all the subtleties in the set. As an album, it does focus too much on the more exotic chanting of Lisa Gerrard (if I'm honest, I am not really all that keen on it; an admission that will probably disgust hardcore fans of Dead Can Dance), rather than the folk-like singing of Brendan Perry. That said, there is still plenty here to please both fans of both Gerrard's style and Perry's.

There are a few outstanding tracks - "American Dreaming", an upbeat (for this album) accoustic-led ballad which makes for wonderful listening, "Cantara", the one song that I feel Gerrard's voice particularly suits and "Don't Fade Away" which is the perfect closing song.

As I've said before, however, I find it is an album that is better suited to being in the background, just to add that needed ambience. Maybe some will disagree, but that's just the way I get the most enjoyment out of their music. I'd fully recommend that you find out for yourself, however - in fact, I'll even add a link so you can have a listen and see what you think. Can't say fairer than that.

Video - American Dreaming