Before David Sylvian’s domestic life took root in the United States, his trajectory seemed defined by rootless European modernism. That shifted dramatically in the early 1990s when Sylvian crossed paths with Ingrid Chavez. Chavez was already an established voice in American alternative soul and poetry. Discovered by Prince during the fertile late-1980s era of the Minneapolis music scene, Chavez served as the poetic muse for Prince's Lovesexy, co-wrote Madonna’s chart-topping "Justify My Love," and starred as Prince's romantic lead in the 1990 film Graffiti Bridge.
Following the release of her 1991 Paisley Park debut album, May 19, 1992, Chavez met Sylvian while he was touring the United States. Their mutual artistic affinity turned romantic almost immediately. In 1992, the couple married in an intimate ceremony, pulling the former Japan frontman away from the UK music press and into a cross-genre domestic creative space. Chavez introduced Sylvian to new vocal timbres and lyrical vulnerability, and the pair settled into family life away from the commercial machinery.
