David Parsons – Vajra

7 reviews for David Parsons – Vajra

1. 

   Bert Strolenberg / SonicImmersion.org – 2022-11-22

   After several years of silence and only the recent sampler In Retrospect”

2. 

   Mikel – 2022-11-22

   Excellent music, very powerful blend of ambient textures and rhythms. Lots of spacemusic leads. Great work David, definitely a favorite along with Shaman.

   2004. Mikel

3. 

   Virginia Tamayo – 2022-11-22

   The music by David Parsons in this compact disc possesses a style pretty near to the Ambient, with an important presence of romantic melodies and magical environments.
   The result, that incorporates elements from World Music and New Instrumental Music, is frankly interesting.
   David Parsons does not release too many albums, he thinks it over quite a lot before he produces something new for the general audience. Yet once we see (and listen to) his new album, we wish he gave us his splendid works more often.

   2004. Virginia Tamayo

4. 

   Matt Howarth / Sonic Curiosity – 2022-11-22

   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.

   2005. Matt Howarth / Sonic Curiosity

5. 

   Phil Derby / Electroambient Space – 2022-11-22

   David Parsons has a distinctive sound that is immediately recognizable on Cloud Gompa”

6. 

   Chuck van Zyl / STAR’S END – 2022-11-22

   The music of David Parsons is best experienced with eyes closed. In this manner, the transportive qualities of his work can be fully felt.

   His album Vajra (63’04) presents six pieces meant to be set against our own mental imagery. Here

7. 

   David Parsons – 2022-11-22

   ….Anyway the inspiration for Vajra was of course Tibetan Buddhism and the Himalayas. I have spent quite a lot of time in the Himalayan Dhauladhar/Kulu/Lahaul area of North India so this imagery is uppermost in my mind when working with the music. I’m never really comfortable with naming tracks because it kind of narrows down the listening perception to a specific thing or place. I feel my stuff is more abstract than that and I like the listener to develop their own imagery really.Anyway these are the track details

   Cloud Gompa. Imagine a Tibetan monastery so high that its in the cloud base. You can just make it out momentarily through swirling mist. It feels isolated and mysterious.Other Realms. Dimensions beyond the material world one can visit with the imagination.
   Masked Dancer. This reminds me of ritual monk dancing where they wear masks of skulls and demons. The music is not the sort of music they would use in reality but it paints that “Masked Dancer” picture in my mind.
   Above Clouds. I’ve stayed in gompas (monasteries) in the Himalayas where you can be often above the cloud base. It gives a feeling of separation from the troubles of the world and a deep feeling of inner peace.
   Kangra Yatra. Yatra means journey or odyssey and Kangra is the valley in Himachal Pradesh situated below Dharamsala