Browse by Artist: PARSONS, DAVID

Artist:	PARSONS, DAVID
Title:	Surya
Label:	CELESTIAL HARMONIES
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	CH 13227CD

"I wanted to create a more 'off-worldly' environment on this project. Surya is my tribute to the sun, and so this album leans a little more toward 'space-music' than a lot of my previous projects. The sounds and atmospheres are mainly generated by oscillators, rather than processed sound samples, to give a more electronic sound -- like the original analog systems that I first began composing with. Surya is the Hindu sun god. I always find track titles difficult as they tend to set in concrete a certain way of relating to the music. I would much prefer the listener to relate to the music in their own way. So the titles simply suggest what occurred to me during the composition and production process. The title track 'Surya' was inspired by the fluid light images of Lynn Augstein on her DVD Borealis. Composed on Kurzweil, Novation, Emu and Roland synthesizers, the tracks are, apart from a Varanasi (India) atmosphere on 'Alien Dreaming,' entirely electronic and all patches are programmed by me." --David Parsons. "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:	PARSONS, DAVID
Title:	Earthlight
Label:	CELESTIAL HARMONIES
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.00
Catalog #:	CH 13231CD

"With the exception of the track entitled 'The Winged Ones,' all of the music on this album was composed on four Novation synthesizers and one Emu Audity 2000 synthesizer running via a Mac computer in real time and then mixing to one stereo track on a hard disk recorder. I love to work this way, as everything is always in a fluid state, allowing me to edit and mix as the composition is evolving. Even when I am happy with every aspect, I still have several attempts at mixdown because many of the low frequency oscillators used for modulating filters and other parameters are free running -- this results in the sounds behaving differently every time the composition is played in real time. I have to create many versions of the mix until I have captured the one that I'm happiest with. The final mix on CD is therefore unique and would never be able to be recorded in the same way again. As with all of my electronic music, I like to use sounds that I have created from scratch. I consider this a very important part of the composition process when using electronic instruments. Many of the sounds inspire the composition process itself. I enjoy erasing all of the 'factory' sounds that synthesizers come with and replacing them with my own creations. Lately, I have also leaned heavily towards synthesizers and much less on samplers. All of the vocal, insect and forest-type sounds (in addition to everything else) are generated by oscillators and filters only. They sound almost like samples, but not quite. This, to me, gives surrealism unachievable with straight sampling or sound effects. I have treated the percussion/rhythmic parts in much the same way, creating them, again from oscillators and filters, as a kind of gamelan/Asian, but not in any literal sense -- a blurred imagery of sorts. An attempt, I guess, to create an atmosphere and unreal landscape that the listener can create their own thoughts and images upon. On the track 'The Winged Ones,' the only 'graphic' sampling I've used is a recording I made in 1975 of pilgrims crossing the Ganges in a boat in the holy Indian town of Rishikesh. This is mixed at a very low level in the final section of the composition." --David Parsons. Wellington, New Zealand.

"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."

Artist:	PARSONS, DAVID
Title:	Jyoti
Label:	CELESTIAL HARMONIES
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	CH 13296CD

"Following in the footsteps of my previous album, Earthlight, I present here a further collection of landscapes for the imagination. In Sanskrit, 'jyoti' means light or flame. This album contains mainly sounds generated by my beloved Novation synthesizers with a touch of Emu, Kurzweil and Roland instruments here and there. All synthesizer programming is mine and no standard factory presets have been used -- no samples either. All sounds have generated by modulated oscillators or -- to quote the labeling on an Indian fruit drink pack -- 'no natural ingredients.' As with most of my compositions, I leave it to the listener to let the music create their own imagined landscapes; the track titles are suggestive only as a starting point for the mind to wander through the fabric of the music." -- David Parsons. "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."

Artist:	PARSONS, DAVID
Title:	Akash
Label:	CELESTIAL HARMONIES
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	CH 13301CD

"'Akash in Sanskrit means sky or ether and all that that embraces. For instance, Akash Ganga (Ganges) can mean the Milky Way (sky river). It is also the name of India's medium-range, surface-to-air missile defense system and Akashwani is the local name of All India Radio. In keeping with the original meaning of the word, I have endeavoured to evoke an expansive sky-like atmosphere in all of the tracks. As with my previous albums, Earthlight and Jyoti, I continue to concentrate more on pure synthesis than on any type of sampled sound, and so this album continues my quest for surrealism or off-worldliness rather than anything too graphic. I have also used only sound programmed by me, using just oscillators and filters to create every sonic landscape.'" -- David Parsons.

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