Parsons, David

Artist: David Parsons
P: 2010
New Zealand-based electronic artist David Parsons continues his etheric and expansive sound journey that remains connected to his recent releases JYOTI and EARTHLIGHT. This release further presents his artful skill at creating mystical soundscapes that always seem to convey the visitation to sacred sites high up in a mist-filled landscape. The feeling of the music being created right in front of you is present, and the inclusion of delicate sequenced patterns provides a sense of ascending even higher into the clouds.

Artist: David Parsons
P: 2022
More varied and musically more interesting than his last two discs Stupa and Puja.
This release is a surprising one as the composer hadn’t received any notification from the label they had released it finally after it had been shelved for so many years. “Atmanaut” (which can be translated as soul journey) actually comprises two unreleased albums from New Zealand-based ambient artist David Parsons: “Atmanaut” (finished in 2007) and “Atma Yatra” (presumably finished a few years later) which David refers to as the darker cousin of the album “Ngaio Gamelan”.

The first seven tracks are taken from “Atma Yatra” while the remaining six made up “Atmanaut”. The realm of aural experiences encountered here is one of Tibetan-inspired floating, meditative sound worlds hanging tight to Mr Parsons signature sound. It shifts between groovy world ambient (“Perhatian”, “Apparition”) to expansive cinematic outings of a textural/drony nature (“Cosmic Sea”, “Dhamek”, “Rakshasloka”).

Artist: David Parsons
P: 2020
Mysterious sounds from the far with slowly developing rhythms and slight sequencing coming in. The music gets richer and fuller of instruments and ambience.

Artist: David Parsons
P: 1992
On Dorje Ling, Parsons mixes samples of traditional Tibetan music into his gently evolving electronic compositions. Many of these recordings were taken from material released on Sacred Ceremonies 2, yet the resulting fusion of ancient and modern sensibilities is not meant to be a representation of Tibetan Buddhist practices. Rather, Dorje Ling, is a poetic exploration of the visions this rich culture has inspired in Parsons, culminating in a sonic pilgrimage through the treacherous splendor of the surrounding Himalayas.

Artist: David Parsons
P: 2008
A seriously underrated talent that has embraced the same respect and awe for immense landscape and mystic realms as comrade-in-arms Steve Roach, composer/synthesist Parsons has for well over two decades realized a singular body of work that has embraced both an ambient ethos and the intricate, meditative harmonics of North Indian classical music. Parsons likens his work to the alap, the elongated introduction to Indian ragas, and in many ways such a description perfectly encapsulates the methodology of ambient music in the most literal sense, removed from yet reflecting Eno's dictum of "music that can be simultaneously listened to and ignored." Definitions often need upgrading, however: Parsons' music is about as ignorable as the mountain vistas he often titles his epic pieces after. Abundant with prodigious chords, tones stretched thinner and thinner at such altitudes they beg for oxygen, and inveighed by the magnetic tensions brought on by otherworldly forces at play, EARTHLIGHT is evocative in the most fantastical sense. The record's glacial pace mimics the breathless pulse of tectonic plates shirking millennia, but mono dimensional drone this isn't.
A pronounced mystic quality informs all of Parsons' music, and the strange regions he traverses on this superb excursion are no different -- space music of a spherical nature, austere yet finely-wrought and patterned, buoyed by a surfeit of mysterious textures and alien cadences, the album is wonderfully disorienting, suggesting rugged confines as well as far flung artifices.
The title track irises open to reveal a multitude of erupting, heavenly electronic light beams soon to be pierced by an eldritch motif of misty mountain modular and cushioned bells. "Altai Himalaya" harkens back to Parsons' eponymous classic Himalaya, aerated blasts of synth drifting in the wake of stratospheric jet streams. Both "Beyond the Light" and "Corona" reveal a composer who's come a long way since the simple two-chord notations of Tibetan Plateau: vari-hued pigments of electronics flow silkily into and out of one another like kaleidoscopic oils, buffed by tablaesque sequencers, pealing intrasolar radio waves and, in the case of "Corona", truculent synths howling into the deep night.
The penultimate twenty minutes that is "Bathing Light" seems to end too abruptly even at that considerable length, but taking into account the buzz saw cut of its synths, its baleful atmosphere and incessant rhythmic momentum, it portends something of a new direction for Parsons, who once noted that his music was "about bathing in the sound." Surely a most inviting proposition, for on EARTHLIGHT, the water's mighty warm indeed.

Artist: David Parsons
P: 1989
Himalaya is a musical journey through India and the Himalaya Mountains. Using a variety of synthesizers, David Parsons creates a beautiful and vivid musical picture. We hear and feel the driving wind and sense the mystery of the deserted snowy mountain meadows. In Rishikesh an underlying growling depicts the awesome feeling of standing at the base of the majestic Himalaya Mountains and looking up. The full-bodied rumble of Kailasa portrays the power of the shrine of Lord Shiva. In Varuna Deva rhythms are used like brushes to paint the lively Ganges River. Spiced with recordings of natural sounds, such as thunder and chanting, Himalaya is a passionate view of India and her mighty mountain range.

Artist: David Parsons
P: 2004
In Retrospect: 1980-2003 is a double CD retrospective of David Parsons' recording career, one heavily influenced by other cultures and extensive travel. The music on In Retrospect: 1980-2003 has been selected and sequenced by Parsons. It also features previously unissued material. We are pleased to add to our catalogue a recording by one who has made such an immense contribution to Celestial Harmonies, both as a recording artist and as a producer.

Artist: David Parsons
P: 2005
INNER PLACES is an outstanding new release from New Zealand-based veteran synth and Indian music artist David Parsons. This is one of drifting, mysterious beauty. No rhythmic elements are present on the CD, leaving the focus towards the mystical atmospheres and cloud-like pieces. Highly recommended to those who want to float into a pure mystical drift.
From his homeland in New Zealand, David Parsons travels frequently to Asia for spiritual and musical inspiration. After collecting musical samples and studying different musical and cultural traditions, Parsons returns to his studio to integrate these influences with his own experiences. In the process, he bridges disparate elements with seamless grace, and creates a unique musical affirmation of our common humanity and cultural endowment.
Parsons' recordings make the Eastern sensibility comprehensible to the Western listener and formulate a unique and captivating new expression.
To Parsons' credit as a musician, composer and performer, he has evolved into a rare and highly acclaimed producer of cultural music traditions. His work is often featured in film, television and radio scores, and continues to be widely praised by reviewers.

Artist: David Parsons
P: 2009
This release plays like a deeper extract from the 2008 Earthlight release. The live feel is evident and the flow is effortless thoughout the six pieces. Elongated sound textures and delicate use of unique sounds and subtle rhythmic elements intermix in classic Parsons style, transcendent and earthy. While this release is fully electronic, his years of playing Indian music and recording volumes of indigenous projects has provided his personal music with a special quality that is infused into the overall atmosphere of his masterful soundscape music.

Artist: David Parsons
P: 2002
As far back as I can remember I have been strongly attracted to both Hinduism and Buddhism, although, because I have an interest in other religious philosophies around the world, I have never fully committed myself to any one belief system. By doing so, I worry that I might be tempted to exclude the great truths existent in other philosophies—so I keep an open mind.
I have been very privileged to be able to travel, courtesy of Celestial Harmonies, to many countries, documenting and recording some great musical traditions. This has allowed me to experience other cultures, more from their people’s point of view than would have normally been possible. This is something I wish we could all experience—it would certainly go a long way towards dissolving some of the hatred, ignorance and lack of cultural sensitivity so rampant in the world today.
Throughout all of my travels I gained a better insight into and respect for Islam, as well as a new appreciation of Christianity via the Armenian Apostolic Church. However, my thoughts still keep leading back to the Indian philosophies. I have always had this love of Hinduism, probably because of its absolute human approach. I am very drawn to Tibetan Buddhism mainly because they have kept some of the pantheon of Hindu deities and the result, for me anyway, is a fascinating synthesis. It has all the logical, intellectual aspects of Buddhist thought together with the rich kaleidoscope of Hinduism. I have always believed that when the creator placed the world in the care of humanity he gave the Tibetans the workshop manual.
It is with these thoughts in mind that I have composed the tracks on this album. The track titles are only the starting points for the listener. I’m sure the music will mean different things to different people and I don’t particularly want to impose my feelings about the music in any concrete way. It is perhaps enough to say that the music is simply the fleeting sonic impressions of a 21st century electronic composer of a great world teaching, that perhaps one day he might find the courage to commit to.

2002. David Parsons

Artist: David Parsons
P: 1999
Longtime fans of David Parsons' sampling and synthesizer originals of the 1980s will be pleased with the musician's return to the studio. After a long hiatus as a composer/performer, Parsons' Ngaio Gamelan is unmistakably his magnum opus. To date that is, we are optimistic Parsons has more to come.
From 1992 until 1997, David Parsons traveled the world as a producer for Celestial Harmonies. After The Music of Cambodia, The Music of Vietnam, The Music of Armenia, The Music of Bali, and the award-winning The Music of Islam in addition to several recordings from India and Indonesia, this is the transfigured music of a reborn composer/performer - the result of an exemplary multi-cultural existence on four continents drawing from the inspiration of hundreds of fellow musicians and music traditions from around the globe, recorded in Wellington, New Zealand.
Tracks one, two and four use sampled phrases from the Armenia project. Track six uses sampled sarangi phrases from a recording made in Pakistan. Tracks three and five are new compositions by Parsons, without any sampling. Most tracks use Indian percussion instruments played by Parsons. The phrase samples have dictated musical scales resulting in the gamelan accompaniment being based on scales otherwise unheard of in Indonesian music. Although Parsons did not strictly follow any musical traditions, as that was not his intention, this is rather an experiment attempting to produce a hybrid - a kind of east-west fusion.

Artist: David Parsons
P: 2000
Parikrama, the double CD from David Parsons, does draw on ideas and sounds from exotic lands, but the album has less to do with the theoretical than it does with the empirical. Parsons is one of the few musicians who have physically covered as much geography as his music has. He has actually traveled to many a far off land, compiled recorded accounts of indigenous music and soaked in the local colour and overall influences of different societies. Parikrama is a somber journey inward and exposes the breadth of Parsons' vast experience.
The pieces on Parikrama are lengthy and slow to develop. Parsons' ever-evolving electronic drones are both absorbing and harmonically interesting. The reflective and contemplative nature of pieces like "Inward Journey" seems almost ceremonial.
The bowed strings of "Darshan" offer focus and melody.
"Devourer of Worlds", with its pensive mood, recurring chants and driving percussion, adds contrast while the peaceful "Manasarovar II" (meaning "lake of the mind") harkens back to 1990's Yatra and gently concludes the album.
David Parsons is a true native of World Music. On Parikrama he has realized an album that feels like a companion on a sonic voyage into the wisdom and insight gained by this well traveled artist.

Artist: David Parsons
P: 2022
Portal is the pounding, beating heart of life at the foothills of the mighty Himalayan range. Here we meet a secluded and hardy people in a stark combination of vivid colours, old ways and a deep spiritual connection to the land that surrounds them; things that modern society handwaves as mere exoticisms.

Artist: David Parsons
P: 2016
David Parsons revisits gterma with a new album which was completed in 2015. Although perhaps mainly known for his panoramic and almost cinematic Himalayan soundworlds, on Puja he continues his more recent tradition of travelling the inner horizon. And in so doing, he also invites us listeners to undertake similar journeys of our own. Puja is a mysterious and magic constellation, fuelled by the spirit and discipline of the age old Asian cultures and philosophies.

Artist: David Parsons
P: 1999
This project was inspired by the great shamanic traditions of the world, in particular those of Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. It is also inspired by the writings of Gurdjieff and Madam Blavatsky, and the art of Nicholas Roerich.
The word shaman these days is loosely applied to medicine men, dervishes, lamas, etc. It originally comes from the Tungus people of Siberia. It is not the name of a religion as such, but has become a name for those people who have certain mystical experiences irrespective of philosophy, religion or culture—a kind of universal brotherhood or sisterhood. These experiences may be in the form of ecstatic states where the shaman leaves the body and travels to the upper or lower worlds. The shaman is even likely to exhibit control over nature (siddhi in sanskrit). He or she may also be a great healer.
In composing Shaman, David Parsons "imagined a gathering of mystics, headed by a high shaman, at night in a remote desert valley."
This recording is his "impression of a complete ceremony where mantras are chanted and dervishes are whirling in ecstatic trances to the rhythm of the music."
It is Parsons' intention to leave the listener to imagine what the track titles mean as they will surely mean different things to different people.

Artist: David Parsons
P: 2013
It has been some time now since we heard from everyone's favourite New Zealander. Rest assured though that all is well with David, and he is still composing new music. However, some material has been ready for release for quite some time but is held up at the publisher. Meanwhile, David sends us these new greetings from the sphere where ambient and Indian classical music converge. Dig out your Ramayana and float away on a little lotus leaf along the river of souls. Comes in a jewel case with 16-page booklet.

Artist: David Parsons
P: 2008
Surya is composer david parson's tribute to the sun and was inspired by the fluid light images of lynn augestein on her dvd borealis. Composed on Kurzweil, Novation, Emu and Roland synthesizers the tracks are, apart from a vananasi (india) atmosphere on the track 'alien dreaming', entirely electronic and all patches were programmed by David himself.

Artist: David Parsons
P: 1992
The recording includes eight compositions that evoke the sounds of remote, deep space through the soaring voices of Parsons' synthesizers in combination with classical Indian instruments. Inspired by the ancient Vedic songs of India, Parson's music lies at the well-springs of consciousness, tempered by soothing sounds from the physical world: the soft chirping of crickets, the calls of songbirds, and the restless sounds of the four winds. The music serves as a centering point for the mind amid the swirling vortex of the temporal plane.

Artist: David Parsons
P: 2004
This release from 2004 features 63 minutes of ambient soundscapes.
New Zealander Parsons explores the Far East with his electronic compositions.
Vaporous textures drift into audibility, evoking slowly forming cloudbanks that gradually encompass the sky with their calming tonalities. Gently growling synthesizers season this slowburn with a seething undercurrent of anticipation.
With the third track, the music adopts a more substantial presence. Violin strains lend a mournful edge to the chugging tempos. Periodic e-perc mixes with ethnic percussives, generating an exotic flair that is enhanced by the lilt of a tranquilizing sitar. The violin and sitar interplay with soothing ease, injecting a mild urgency to the drifting pastiche.
After a return to minimalist ambience, the music takes another upward boost as lively rhythms patter away to generate a blend of contemporary electronic music with easygoing soundscapes. The percussion goads the melody along with comfortable effect, while violin reemerges to color the tune with a melancholy touch of yearning. The presence of ascending keyboard riffs gives the music a softly dramatic promise.
The CD concludes with a strictly ambient piece that makes diligent use of elongated soundscapes and surging puffs of steam-powered drive.
Resolutely aerial in nature, this music pleasantly connects far-flung lands with the heavens.

Artist: David Parsons
P: 1990
Though all of the albums recorded by Parsons are highly recommended, this double CD (which includes 35 minutes of material not featured on the cassette versions) offers a balance of shorter, more up tempo pieces and longer, more contemplative works.
Yatra (which means "journey" in Sanskrit) is a musical travelog through the Indian countryside, with its busy open-air markets and joyful folk melodies.
Gradually, the composer moves into the ethereal realm of Tibet, a landscape imbued with secret ceremonies and hidden knowledge.
David Parsons has long been fascinated by India and Tibet, two ancient worlds characterized by potent mythologies, mystical sacred sites, and sublime musical traditions. Over the years, this respected electronic composer has made numerous yatras (journeys, in Sanskrit) to India, experiencing the sites and sounds of this exotic land.
Yatra is Parsons' first comprehensive attempt to log the essence of his Far Eastern adventures. Unlike his highly successful 1989 release Himalaya (17059), an artfully austere sonic ascent of the legendary mountain range, Yatra opens with a more earthy approach. The recording gently leads you through the Indian countryside, with its busy open air markets and joyful folk melodies, gradually moving to the ethereal realm of Tibet, a landscape imbued with secret ceremonies and hidden knowledge.
Tapes recorded during a 1987 trip to the East merge with the Macintosh–manipulated samples of Indian instruments Parsons has collected over the years, to create a vivid sonic representation of the land and its people.