3.5

Release data:

David Parsons – Earthlight
CD, Celestial Harmonies, 2008

About “Earthlight”, David states there’s nothing particularly special about the music, as its just a continuing evolution of what he does. He had, of late, preferred to use synthesisers almost exclusively over samplers and therefore this release is almost 100% “synthetic”, or in other words almost no natural ingredients.
To record the outcome, David mainly used four Novation synthesisers running in real time. All sounds were created from scratch (as many sounds inspire the composition process itself) using only oscillators and filters to create everything including insect and forest sounds, Tuvan/Tibetan monk sounds etc. David loves using synths like this because they create something approaching the real thing but never quite, thus giving a more off-worldly, surreal type of sound.

The 62-minutes of overall quiet freeform music, split in six pieces, are of a flowing, at times surreal nature, slowly shifting through textural, atmospheric and imaginative landscapes, in which only occasionally percussive/rhythmic parts pass by.

The velvet soundscapes of “Corona” nicely shift into hold back sequencer patterns, while “The Winged Ones” is an immersive, almost meditative sonic painting. This floating nature continues on the 20-minute highlight “Bathing Light”, with its crispy sound effects and soft wavering, heavenly textures, a lofty sequencer pattern fades in in the second half.

All in all, “Earthlight” features some deep and delicate sound paintings that fit the style of his previous ambient/space albums.

You can see what reviews I have done of this artist on the David Parsons artist page