The high priestess of eerie glossolalia, and her musical partner.

The album weaves Platonic and Ayurvedic philosophical sentiments into esoteric folk-derived rhythms and eerie chant-like vocals — although they've left 4AD for the more, er, familiarly named Play It Again Sam label, they've retained the occultish fabric of the 4AD DCD sound, with its usual deliciously shivery rewards.

"Working on the album, we relished the opportunity to work with new instruments like the hang [a UFO-shaped Swiss instrument that crosses a steel drum with a gamelan gong] and a host of other percussion that we'll be talking on the road with us," Gerrard said about the tour, "as well as another fantastic singer who we've trained to double my vocals so we can really bring out the sounds of our older catalogue. I can't wait to uncork those songs for everyone at the beautiful Greek Theatre in Berkeley. They're just the right vintage now, they're so ripe for the ears, if you will.

"And our new ones, we're working in 6/8, 9/5 time signatures in these lovely Sufi and Eastern traditions. It really is going to be a show — but we're putting so much practice into it, it's not just feeding everything into a digital machine."

About that digital machine: how does Dead Can Dance feel in a world of instant access — and a lot less mystery when it comes to musical artistry?

"Connection is both the key and the mystery, darling — it depends where its coming from. We try to locate ourselves within the connective tissue of an ur-culture that can free us from the suffocating membrane of mediocrity."

DEAD CAN DANCE

Sun/12, 7:30pm, $39.50

Greek Theatre

2001 Gayley Rd, Berk.

www.apeconcerts.com

www.deadcandance.com