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With Synchronize of Die (76'21") Stephen Parsick comes close to the canons of greats that have influenced him. Making music under the name ['ramp] we find the personal language of a restless mind. The five tracks on Synchronize of Die give steady pleasure, as each piece glitters with its own distinctive electricity. The sound is lean, transparent, surging - like currents journeying through the limitless deep. Haunting, raw, dark and dreamy, we feel the potency of every note. Parsick knows how to raise the listener's pulse. Electrifying routes run by a battery of sacred sequencer motors produce an enigmatic and emphatic animation. Calmly hypnotic, this music's electrono throbbing aligns the conflicting energies of the mind, within the overlapping geometries of circling spirals of echoing notes. Sullen tones, deployed for their sinister, estranging effect, send darkness through us. Producing a live, unpredictable energy Synchronize of Die gives a good feeling to the ear - too gorgeous not to be alluring. Measured Mellotron lead lines respond to slight synth melodies, as ghostly smudges of sound emerge and recede - all rising above the heady boil of potent pumping bass notes. This album provides a sense of drift, of negative and positive shift - as we listeners contemplate narratives beyond what is played. A vigor greater than that of the Earth is present in this music. Once awoken to it, it would be hard for anyone to go back to sleep. This work comes from out of the same place as do dreams and myths - from realizations about existence that must find expression in symbolic form. For Parsick, the murmur of the synthesizer is this expression. Music is the canvas upon which he projects onto - and when we hear it, we find that which is inside of us, our unnamed feelings and beliefs, to be utterly true.
- Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END 24 August 2017 |
