Rosy Parlane: Willow (Touch)

New Zealand ambient veteran Rosy Parlane makes a welcome appearance on Touch with these two concise cuts recorded in Auckland in 2008-09. It’s been some time since I’ve heard anything new from him, but these pieces remind me that I should pay more attention, as both tracks are excellent. “Willow” is a hazy glimmer, four and a half minutes of droning harmonics and textural crackle. Like its cover art (as usual, a gorgeous photograph by Jon Wozencroft), it suggests the vibrant and unpredictable color of nature reflecting on the surface of water, subtly and constantly changing, never entirely faithful to the scene it reflects. “Morning” is more serene. It conjures images of the sun rising above the horizon, starting with a glow before revealing a beacon of light. It’s a steady crescendo-to-decrescendo swell of smooth drones, something of which Rosy Parlane is a sure master. It’s a bite-sized piece of ambient bliss. 

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