David Parsons – Surya

I wanted to create a more ‘off-worldly’ environment on this project. Surya is my tribute to the sun, and so this album leans a little more toward ‘space-music’ than a lot of my previous projects. The sounds and atmospheres are mainly generated by oscillators, rather than processed sound samples, to give a more electronic sound—like the original analog systems that I first began composing with. Surya is the Hindu sun god I always find track titles difficult as they tend to set in concrete a certain way of relating to the music. I would much prefer the listener to relate to the music in their own way. So the titles simply suggest what occurred to me during the composition and production process. The title track Surya was inspired by the fluid light images of Lynn Augstein on her DVD Borealis. Composed on Kurzweil, Novation, Emu and Roland Synthesizers the tracks are, apart from a Varanasi (India) atmosphere on Alien Dreaming, entirely electronic and all patches are programmed by me.
David Parsons – Surya CD review by Andy Busuttil
I always approach a work by a Westerner that claims some sort of relationship, either implicitly or explicitly, with a deity of an Eastern religion with some degree of scepticism. Listening to this CD claiming in part a link with a Hindu God, gave me no cause for exception. However, if one expunges that thought and just listens to this production, an odd sense of ‘spiritual pragmatism’ may come to mind. In my case, this came down to ‘what would someone who bought this CD use it for?’. The answer is that this a perfect CD for relaxation, ‘coming down’ from a high shelf of activity, ‘meditating’ in its myriad forms, massage or various other reflective or contemplative practices. This CD does not demand the listener’s attention. It lets you get on and do whatever you want. It uses programmed synthesizers to facilitate the development of a mood, essentially one of low physical and mental activity. If this is ‘your thing’, get this CD, it will serve your purposes well.