The uncompromising eponymous debut, Dead Can Dance (1984), harnessed a bewitching barrage of sounds (including the distinct sound of the yangqin) with the then five-piece interchanging instruments to leave the vocals of Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry as the only constant. The album’s cover was important as an introduction too, a Papua New Guinean mask that some believe when worn, a life force can be put into the inanimate wood - the dead can dance.