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Zeena Parkins is a New York-based (Detroit-born) harpist who has introduced the
instrument in the context of improvised music.
Her first major experience was in prog-rock outfits
Skeleton Crew and
News from Babel.
She designed her own electric version of the harp (with help from Tom Cora),
and continued to enhance it throughout her career.
Something Out There (No Man's Land, 1987) collects solos, duos and trios
with drummer Ikue Mori, cellist Tom Cora, turntablist Christian Marclay,
percussionist Samm Bennett, etc.
Good As Gold's OWT (Homestead, 1989) is duos with percussionist David Linton.
No Safety was another prog-rock combo, featuring Parkins, guitarist Chris Cochrane, bassist Ann Rupel, guitarist Doug Seidel, drummer Pippin Barnett, and
This Lost Leg (RecRec, 1989) was their first album.
David Shea on turntables and samples joined them on their second album,
Spill (Knitting Factory Works, 1992).
Ursa's Door (Victo, 1992) contains two lengthy Parkins compositions, the 31-minute Ursa's Door and the 15-minute piano solo Flush.
The former is performed by Parkins on harp and other instruments, Sara Parkins on violin, Margaret Parkins on cello, Ikue Mori on drums, Chris Cochrane on guitar. The three Parkins sisters make up an intriguing chamber trio on the title-track, while Mori's computer-generated "concrete" sounds haunt Parkins' alien harp-based soundscapes.
Nightmare Alley (Table Of The Elements, 1993) is a collection of solos,
fifteen shorter pieces for electric and acoustic harps.
Psycho-Acoustic (Victo, 1994) was her first duo with Elliott Sharp.
Confirming her shift towards chamber music,
Isabelle (Avant, 1995) contains a ten-movement suite (a companion piece
of Blue Mirror) scored for Parkins on
sampler and harp, Lisa Crowder on piano, Margaret Parkins on cello, Sara Parkins on violin, and five duos with Ikue Mori on percussion.
Chipfarm (God Mountain, 1995) was a collaboration among Optical-8 (a Japanese quartet led by Hoppy Kamiyama on electronics and samples, and Otomo Yoshihide on guitar and turntables), Japanese rockers Melt Banana and Elliot Sharp.
Psycho-Acoustic's Blackburst (Victo, 1996) was a duo with Elliott Sharp, yielding the 24-minute workout Peregrine and five shorter pieces of mostly electronic and digital music.
Parkins' next release under her own name, Mouth=Maul=Betrayer (Tzadik, 1996), contained the nine-movement suite Maul (1995) and the six-movement suite Blue Mirror (1996), performed by Sara Parkins on violin, Maggie Parkins on cello, Jim Pugliese on drums and vibes, Mark Stewart on cello, guitar and mandolin, Carsten Dane on vocals, Andy Haas on didjeridu, etc. The score is mostly driven by a spoken-word narrative.
The Gift of Tongues (Knitting Factory Works, 1996) contains two live improvisations with guitarist Lee Renaldo and drummer William Hooker: Colour and the 53-minute Stamina.
Sharks (ReR, 1996) contains two live improvisations with Chris Cutler, QeH and Link.
No Way Back (Atavistic, 1998) was, instead, a real "solo" album,
but, despite the ambitious sound organization of the
three longer compositions,
Vita Futuristica (9:01),
This Velvet Annihilation (9:16) and
Venus Smiles (11:20), it is mostly the soundtrack to a multimedia
event that relied, once again, on a story.
The Opium War (Einstein, 1999)
documents a radio play (with Mori, Sharp, Tenko, Chris Cochrane and others).
Parkins' soundsculpting skills are more evident on
Pan-Acousticon (Tzadik, 1999), three suites (Akouein, Cavere, Ether)
for found sounds, strings and percussion
(sister Sara on violin, sister Margaret on cello,
Jim Pugliese on percussion and vibes,
Mark Stewart on guitar and cello).
Phantom Orchard (Mego, 2004) is a collaboration between
Ikue Mori (electronics)
and
Zeena Parkins (harp, keyboards).
The impressionistic pieces evoke
a more abstract Before And After Science (Brian Eno).
Necklace (Tzadik, 2006) collected four new compositions, including
the 17-minute Persuasion for string quartet and electronic processing
and the three-movement Visible/Invisible for string quartet, that rank
among her most explorations of the sonic space, from sharp drones to percussive dissonance.
Devotion is a soundtrack for a film.
Recording dates:
Isabelle: recorded september 1993;
Mouth=Maul=Betrayer: tracks 1-9 recorded on december 28-30, 1995; tracks 10-15 recorded in january and february 1996;
No Way Back: recorded in december 1997;
Nightmare Alley: recorded in 1992;
Something Out There: recorded february 1986-january 1987;
This Lost Leg: recorded in aug/sept 1988;
Ursa's Door: recorded in june 1991 and january 1992;
Psycho-Acoustic: recorded january 1994;
Chipfarm: recorded in november 1994.
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