Parsons, David

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.