Reviews - “Mantle”

“Mantle” review by Heathen Harvest

http://www.heathenharvest.com/article.php?story=20080729111928524

Brian Parnham’s sweeping multi-layered epics very much possess a

real-world inspiration. Ostensibly these twelve mid-length tracks on this,

the fourth CD from Parnham (commissioned by, and created in partial

collaboration with, the guru of deep ambient soundscapes Steve

Roach), appear to portray beguiling vistas veiled by insubstantiality and

fogginess, panoramas of fabled lands and countries perhaps. However,

the roots of this music are no less spectacular for being inspired by

something a lot harsher and definitely more solid, namely the desert

landscapes of Western America, and what appear superficially to be

expanses of unending monotony turn out, on much closer inspection, to

contain stories piled upon innumerable tapestried stories, the

unravelling of which reveals hidden riches and colours.

Above all, there is SPACE here. Deserts are, if nothing else, the

epitome of vast expanses, and these soundscapes range across almost

horizonless territories, and yet, paradoxically, these pieces betray a

feeling of being hemmed in by these apparently limitless boundaries. It’s

almost as if, knowing they have the freedom to roam anywhere, they

decide that right where they are feels best. As brilliant as the azure sky

that vaults the dry and dusty habitats is, it nevertheless brings with it a

sense of weightiness, and combined with the searing orb of the sun,

debilitating oppression. Capturing and distilling these very essences is

no easy feat, at least not without slipping into mere cliché and parody.

Parnham, along with Roach’s augmentations, does an exceptional job

of steering clear of those stylistic elements which would consign these

efforts into the category of dull repetition and one-dimensionality, and

instead creates a vision as mesmerising, layered, and mirage-filled as

the deserts of his inspiration while simultaneously digging deep and

unearthing delights to quench our thirsty imaginations.

In much the same way then, that, on the surface, the desert would

appear to be devoid of life and full of emptiness but when you peel back

the layers you inevitably find little treasures here and there occulted by

the swathes of obscuring sand and dust, this music operates in very

much the same way as these monumental landscapes do. What you’re

initially confronted with are what appear to be interminable expanses

and washes of indistinguishable and lazily floating drones, enlivened

perhaps by the odd outcrop of sound here and there, but otherwise

unbroken and unmarked. But, like any desert nomad could tell you, just

pay a little closer attention or dig a little under the surface, and you will

begin to see patterns and colours, and an exuberance of life. In fact

(and as a good example), the very first track, ‘Skim the Surface’, seems

to warn against doing just that; with its hints of rumblings and moanings

buried deep in the mix, one gets the impression that there is more going

on here than on the surface. And there’s also a hint that, despite the

majesty and grandeur of nature existing here, there also lives and lurks

unseen danger.

My only criticism of this, perhaps, is that, like a traveller standing at the

edges of a vast sea of sand that he knows he has to cross, those sonic

expanses are daunting in the extreme, and may serve to put the less

intrepid off. I am a hardy nomad, but even so I found that at times my

attention was wandering and I was starting to lose the path. It is

perhaps easy to get lost in the vastness of Parnham’s vision, to stray

away from the safe ways, and find yourself in unfamiliar territory. Some

will set out determinedly; others will turn their faces away.

This recording very much sits in the margin between beauty and

menace, a combination that often goes hand in hand in nature itself.

Although it would seem that Steve Roach has had quite a hand in this

album’s realisation and production, it remains above all Parnham’s

abiding creation. What Roach does add to the complex tapestry are fine

enhancements, highlighting here and there, and coaxing out the

underlying themes put forth by Parnham. So then, for those of us who

yearn for the road less-travelled, listening deeply to this album will

reward with unknown pleasures and riches aplenty.

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