Barry Parma-Rogers - In Ourselves

 Released: January 28

This latest album from relatively new artist Barry Parma-Rogers is comprised of a wonderful combination of sweet and sour moments. Though the album technically has five tracks, it plays as though it is one continuous piece, effortlessly gliding from part to part. It opens up with a soft and harmonious pieces of pads that float elegantly around the sound space and switches into a rush of heavy distorted swells by the second movement. The album keeps this back and forth dynamic, alternating between the soft and the harsh in such a way as to feel completely natural. Dynamically speaking, the album is absolutely incredible. 

The quieter moments can be found on “III” and “IV,” two tracks that play around in ethereal pads and light pianos, with all of the shimmer and shine that an effortless ambient album should have. Conversely, we can find find those heavier moments on tracks like “II” and “V,” which start out in the very first moments soft as ever but are quickly overtaken by giant swells of distorted drones. The intensity of these tracks can’t be understated, veering off into a wall of sound direction and overtaking all other elements of the track. The other tracks here tend to fall somewhere in between the two extremes, striking that balance between the intense and the minute. It makes for such a wonderful experience, one that feels introspective but not overly severe.