Following the 1982 dissolution of Japan, the groups onetime frontman David Sylvian staked out a far-ranging and esoteric career that encompassed not only solo projects but also a series of fascinating collaborative efforts and forays into filmmaking, photography, and modern art. Born David Batt in Kent, England, on February 23, 1958, Sylvian formed Japan in 1974 and served as primary singer/songwriter throughout the groups eight-year existence. Just prior to Japans breakup, Sylvian began working with composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, with whom he released the single Bamboo Houses in 1982, marking the beginning of a longstanding musical relationship.

After 1983s Forbidden Colours, another joint effort with Sakamoto composed for the film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, Sylvian released his 1984 solo debut, Brilliant Trees. The first step in his musics evolution from Japans post-glam synth pop into richly textured, poetic ambience, the album featured contributions from Sakamoto as well as Jon Hassell and Can alumnus Holger Czukay. That year, Sylvian also published his first book of photographs, Perspectives: Polaroids 82/84; in 1985, he released Preparations for the Journey, a documentary filmed in and around Tokyo, as well as the EP Words With the Shaman.

Gone to Earth, an ambitious double LP recorded with assistance from Robert Fripp and Bill Nelson, followed in 1986, while 1987 marked the release not only of the beautiful Secrets of the Beehive album but also the book collection Trophies: The Lyrics of David Sylvian. At the same time, he began composing the score for modern dancer Gaby Abis Kin, which premiered at Londons Almeida Theater that September; another collaboration with Abis, Dont Trash My Altar, Dont Alter My Trash, bowed in November 1988. Also in 1988, Sylvian reunited with Holger Czukay for the instrumental LP Plight and Premonition; the duo re-teamed in 1989 for Flux + Mutability. Ember Glance: The Permanence of Memory, an installation of sculpture, sound, and light created by Sylvian and Russell Mills, was staged in Tokyo Bay, Shinagawa, in 1990; a year later, he and the other members of Japan, who had briefly reunited under the name Rain Tree Crow, issued a self-titled album.