Cale Parks - Illuminated Manuscript

Illuminated Manuscript

Release Date: September 26, 2006

In between recording takes for yet another critically acclaimed Aloha album (Some Echoes), Cale Parks began work on the solo material that soon found its way onto Illuminated Manuscript.Parks split time between several cities as he wrote and recorded all of the songs on the album. The result is an intimate but intricate bedroom ambient electronic sound where keyboards and mallet instruments mix with sparse vocals and a television or the occasional cat meowing in the background.

Best known as the classically trained drummer and percussionist for Aloha, Parks has also recorded with Joan of Arc, White Williams and Passion Pit.

Reviews

If PhilSpector had teamed up with Brian Enoand Tortoise to make his holidaymusic, it would've sounded horribly (and by horribly I mean amazingly) akin toCale Parks Illuminated Manuscript,with is nothing short of brilliant.

- SLUG
On hissolo effort, Illuminated Manuscript, Aloha-drummer Cale Parks takes theexperimental blueprint for his band's work and morphs it into a collection ofambient (yet structured) songs, featuring nothing but keyboards, electronicdrum sounds, and mallet instruments. Cale's live percussion and fragile vocalsadd warmth to the otherwise-electro grooves, and the record is a perfect loopfor drifting in and out of focus on hazy, lazy days.

- Stereogum
IlluminatedManuscript succeeds as a record that defies musical conventions andexpectations, simply by augmenting them into greater, more eloquent forms.Given Parks' day-to-day gigs, however, defying expectation has to be expected.

- Three Imaginary Girls
IlluminatedManuscript plays as a creative catharsis from Parks' day-to-day avant-gardeendeavors. These instrumental tracks range from wistful ambience conjuring Brian Eno ("Pretty Boring,""I am the Arm") to sonic explorations of cryptic lyrical enigmas("Galaxy 8180," "Wet Paint").

- Seattle Sound
For the sweet-toothed silent type, the albumis a perfect breezy day companion - a humble, unpretentious success ofatmospheric ambience and thoughtful theatrics, energetic enough to set heartsaflutter while still allowing for an introspective and calming listeningexperience.

- Urban Pollution
It has the flow and sweeping scope of workslike Radiohead's Kid A or Bright Eyes' Digital Ash in aDigital Urn... a masterpiece...

- Insomnia Radio