Recording information: David Parsons Studio, Wellington, New Zealand.
Photographer: Mike Fuller.
Unknown Contributor Role: Daniel Hersch.
Synthesist and Tibetan sound painter David Parsons' love affair with that windswept land continues on the sprawling, two-disc YATRA. Like the mountainous regions after which it is named, YATRA is mammoth in its scope, taking in compositions that are epic in length and breadth.
The 28-minute "Manasarovar" encapsulates the recording perfectly. Parsons lays down glacial synth floes and weaves a series of subtle undulating tones on top, letting the broad filters of his synths gradually open and close. The sounds ebb, build, and subside as though caught in the breath of preening Tibetan gods. One might call these crystalline works "ambient" if they were indeed more passive. But Parsons is too much of the sonic painter to allow his music to become aural wallpaper. Capturing the silent beauty of the wintry vistas and stifling altitude of Tibet is Parson's working ethos. Via his massive electronic soundbanks, he succeeds wondrously.
Professional Reviews
Down Beat (3/91) - 3 Stars - Good - "A New Zealand-based synthesist, Parsons has studied Tibetan music on-site, even producing an album of monastic chants. On "Yatra" (Sanskrit for "journey"), Parsons mixes his recordings of indigenous music and environmental sounds into original compositions. The first disc builds on earthy rhythms and sounds...the second disc leaves worldly concerns behind, contemplating the ether of Tibetan spirituality through extended trance pieces."
