3.5

Release data:

[‘ramp] – happy days are here to stay
CD/DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, Doombient, 2022

Since I came to know his intriguing music I dare say Stephen Parsick has a sarcastic view on the world as well as mankind, something he on and off expressed through his Doombient music art. The first glimpses of an upcoming new cold war as well as the start of the Ukraine war added its own 2 cents to that. This and Stephen’s personal perception though have led to various beautifully molded, attentively crafted, and often dark-shaded works of art such as his most notable 2018 recording “No sleep ‘til wilmersdorf”.

Melancholy and longing shine profoundly through the outcome making up the 73-minute “Happy Days are here to stay”, an album full of a range of warm vintage sounds, most notably mellotron, loops, treatments, piano as well as some occasional smooth sequencing. It all draws us back to the vintage soundings and misty atmospheres of the mid-’70s. The beauty found in small things, something funeral-esque, profound senses of loss as well something almost celebratory -moods scattered all over this recording- are found in its eight aural “meditations”. Menacing, foreboding vibes also come to the surface on the whining but beautiful title track. If you might expect a sparkle of relief or hope, think again, as a depressing, slightly threatening mood lingers on in “All is Lost”. What remains is emptiness, and desolation, both expressed boldly and without remorse on “Capsized” and “Shipwrecked”, the final two tracks.

What a “soundtrack” for our lost world that once again faces a most serious crossroads. Still, don’t be sad, smile.

Website: ramp1.bandcamp.com

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