4.5

Release data:

[‘ramp] No sleep ’til wilmersdorf
CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Doombient, 2018

“No sleep ‘til wilmersdorf” (the Berlin years 1978/79) is a 76-minute continuous aural travelogue through space and time seeing the composer remember and reflect upon his childhood spent in a village near Berlin. Besides the use of a vast range of analogue equipment, the 8-track outcome features profound mood and atmospheric music evoking melancholy and assorted emotions as it progresses.

Opener “Compact Phasing A” already sets a great mood retro fans will embrace for sure. The 16-minute title piece though is a more dynamic exercise fitting sonically somewhat in the frame of TD’s “Richochet” but taking the Parsick-approach. Lots of mellotron, phasing and reverb grace the vintage music on the release as well as slow-paced heavy and deep sequencing, while “Haunted Hills” and “Salomon’s Road” hint nicely toward Peter Baumann’s first two albums.

“Oedipus” makes a lovely haunting and mystifying spherescape hovering freeform in space before moving gently into “Orphelia’s” mesmerizing psychedelic aural spirals. On the intimate sounding final piece things simply fade to grey and dissolve eventually.

Although a different beast than its predecessor, “No sleep ’til wilmersdorf” proves most rewarding, cohesive and strong in its own right deserving attentive (headphone) listening. The inclusion of various binaural field recordings as well as thc surround recording and mastering simply put the icing on the cake. Congrats Stephen for this very well accomplished batch of music.

Website: www.parsick.com

You can see what reviews I have done of this artist on the [‘ramp] artist page