His Name Is Alive – Livonia

A storied part of the early 4AD catalog, His Name Is Alive – the creative outlet of Michigan musician Warren Defever – was signed to the label in 1989, after founder Ivo Watts-Russell fell in love with their dark and fragmented sonic inclinations via cassette demos sent in the post. The project’s debut record, Livonia (named after Defever’s hometown), was released in June 1990. While His Name Is Alive’s sound was in line with the gothic echoes of labelmates Cocteau Twins and Dead Can Dance, they also had a different, nonpareil quality, something existing on the boundary of this earth and another realm further underground. It was this otherness that piqued interest and proved the fulcrum of an unpredictable sound that often changed tack before listeners could second guess.A product of nearly ten years of Defever’s home recordings, produced and mixed by Watts-Russell and his This Mortal Coil collaborator John Fryer, their debut Livonia cemented the band