Hope in a Darkened Heart is a 1986 album by Virginia Astley

Virginia Astley

Virginia Astley is an English singer-songwriter most active during the 1980s and 1990s. From the start of her songwriting career in 1980, Astley took her inspiration from many sources. Her classical training influenced her as did a desire to be experimental with her music...

, produced, primarily, by Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese musician

Musician

A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

 and composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 Ryuichi Sakamoto

Ryuichi Sakamoto

After working as a session musician with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi in 1977, the trio formed the internationally successful electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1978. Known for their seminal influence on electronic music, the group helped pioneer electronic genres such as...

. The album is noted for featuring former Japan

Japan (band)

Japan were a British New Wave group, formed in 1974 in Catford, South London. The band achieved success in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when they were often associated with the burgeoning New Romantic fashion movement .- History :The band began as a group of friends...

 singer David Sylvian

David Sylvian

David Sylvian is an English singer-songwriter and musician who came to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead vocalist and main songwriter in the group Japan...

 on the track "Some Small Hope" and for an alternate version of "A Summer Long Since Passed", which was originally included on Astley's From Gardens Where We Feel Secure

From Gardens Where We Feel Secure

From Gardens Where We Feel Secure is the title of the first Virginia Astley album issued on her own Happy Valley label and distributed by Rough Trade Records.The album was released in July 1983 and peaked at number 4 in the UK Indie Chart...

album. An additional track, "Le Song (A Day, A Night)", along with lyrics and a biography is available on the Japanese issue.

The tracks "Some Small Hope" and "Charm" were released as singles but were not commercially successful. Two further tracks, "Love's a Lonely Place to be" and "Darkness Has Reached its End", had been issued some years before the album's release but likewise had no impact on the singles chart.

Track listing

1. "Some Small Hope"
2. "A Father"
3. "So Like Dorian"
4. "I'm Sorry"
5. "Tree Top Club"
6. "Charm"
7. "Love's a Lonely Place to be"
8. "A Summer Long Since Passed"
9. "Darkness Has Reached its End"
10. "Le Song (A Day, A Night)" (Japanese Import)