Pärson Sound (1968)

Inspired by minimalist composer Terry Riley, Pärson Sound was a 10-piece Swedish band who experimented with droning, repetitive jams. Their music is exceptionally dense, with huge guitar sound, bass, organ, flute, piano, saxophone, sparse vocals and drums by three different members. They also made use of tape manipulation, sometimes during live performances letting a tape pass two tape recorders, one tape recording and the other playing back with distortion, creating progressively layered noises and tones. Pärson Sound is not for those lacking patience for extended jamming, with two songs clocking in over 20 minutes—"Skrubba" nearly approaches half an hour—and no song under five minutes, besides the short intro. Although largely chaotic, repetitive and loud, Pärson Sound was also very capable of creating melodic pastorales. This becomes evident towards the end of "10 Minutes," as noisy jamming gradually segues—seemingly through the use of tape manipulation—into a pleasant baseline with airy vocals and nice chord changes. This lighter side of the band doesn't resurface again until the final two tracks of the album. The understated "On How to Live" consists of strummed acoustic guitar, flute and singing birds, while "Blaslaten" layers beautiful wind instruments and saxophone. One highlight of the album is the menacingly sparse "A Glimpse Inside The Glyptotec -66," which also makes use of tape manipulation. Ambient sounds dominate the track, but towards the end, haunting, breathy vocals close the song out on an eerie note. Pärson Sound would eventually change their name to International Harvester, releasing two albums, Sov Gott Rose-Marie—named for a song also included on Pärson Sound—in 1968 and Hemat in 1969. The more accessible and famous Träd, Gräs och Stenar would later form from the remaining members of International Harvester.

"10 Minutes"


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