“Mantle” is a 73 minute atmospheric ambient work from talented ambient musician Brian Parnham, which music has been privately released by Steve Roach, and who also did the refined, exquisite production of it.
As a matter of fact, it is the first cd in Steve Roach’s series devoted to bringing high-quality essential cd releases from the deep end of the soundcurrent
The cd contains twelve tracks of beautiful, free flowing textual desert music, “playing like a surreal subterranean walkabout within the folds of Utah’s alluring slot canyons”.
Well, the outcome is an intriguing, cinematic collection of deep carving, slow swirling and (re)turning sound worlds with organic edges which would fit well as a soundtrack to the stunning visuals as presented on Roach’s former dvd-release “Time of the Earth”.
This non-rhythmic, soft dwelling sonic excursion is an absolute must-have for all who embrace Roach’s infinite playback stuff and slow moving textural albums, although Brian Parnham proves he can add his own turns, twists and magic to that.
Note: Brian provided me some background information on how “Mantle” -Creating the Sub-Terranean Atmospheric- came about:
“In early 2007, Steve Roach asked me if I would be interested in exploring an audio project that reflected possible experiences within the hypnagogic realm – that blurred, surreal zone somewhere between the conscious and sub-conscious state.
Early mixes of “Mantle” consisted mainly of a single, long-form, standing drone track. As I had it playing while sleeping, at the lowest level the player would provide, it became apparent that the glacially evolving form wasn’t accurately reflective of my experiences at the time.
This may have been due to the fact that I find some of my most potent hypnagogic experiences occur in the time and space between hits on the alarm clock snooze button.
The 9-10 minutes of in-between time can seem like hours or days.
Some would have a common thread, build and evolve on the previous, whereas others would be seemingly completely unrelated.
The album really started to solidify from there to become more into what it is today. An auditory crucible of light and darkness, woven into a beatless sojourn.
Recommended for low level, laid back, sub-dued lighting listening environments with a good set of headphones and a glass of red wine”.
Website: www.brianparnham.com
You can see what reviews I have done of this artist on the Brian Parnham artist page
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