Orchestramaxfieldparrish — Guitar Improvisations Volumes I – V( USB/ book)

Orchestramaxparrish  is the one-man ambient guitar improv project from the mind of New York resident Mike Fazio, guitarist with Life with the Lions, Gods of Electricity and Chili Faction. Mike has also recorded several solo projects under a variety of names including, ÆRA, A Guide for Reason, orchestramaxfieldparrish, and the Sonic Arts Society. He is also the founder of the record label Faith Strange through which he has released much of his music.

Guitar Improvisations Vol I – VI is the culmination of a really interesting project that saw Fazio record a series of guitar jams and improvisations in the studio and then manipulate them to create what we hear on this blockbuster six-album set.  Here it’s presented as a USB drive, which comes presented with a thirty-two-page booklet. The set can also be digital download- for both options drop by the projects bandcamp here

Each is named as if it were a separate album, and in fact, each album is stylistically different to the others in some way. What is the same across the board is that Mike Fazio is the only musician involved, and every track was a first take with little to no overdubs anywhere. The first album, Unseen Unspoken Ascending is a suite of agreeable ambient guitar tracks that can feel strangely relaxing and uplifting. It’s a pleasant enough manner, in which, to get things underway. The second disc, Path follows a similar trajectory, but adds some found sounds, particularly on "Valya’s Widow", whilst the final track "Ascent" features some more traditional sounding guitar playing interspersed with the more experimental drones and loops. Album three, Paisaghji, has a slight Eastern flavour to it, this is also the first album that sounds quite cinematic to my ears. The Coldest Spring is the fourth album, featuring an increase in the use of distortion and backward tape loops to create something slightly more psychedelic in nature. The fifth album is the wonderfully titled, A New Treatise on Cosmic Fire, and once again the mystical eastern, cinematic feel is present, this also bears out in the fact that each track is named after a different chakra. The last album features one long thirty three-minute track, "Aevum". This is a fine way to close out the collection as it slowly builds from a gentle ambience to something far grander in scale. An epic cinematic masterpiece, if ever there was.

Overall, this six-album set of ambient guitar improvisations makes for a wonderful accompaniment to meditation and draws the listener in to appreciate the beautiful musical intricacies that underlay the whole experience. In fact, experience is the best way to describe listening to the albums on show here, as they take the listener on an epic magical journey through different musical landscapes. Simply put, this is a lovely meditative slab of ambient guitar drone that leaves the listener feeling refreshed, relaxed and ready to take on whatever the world has to offer.