JOURNEY TO THE LIGHT

Vinyl LP repressing of this 1985 privately pressed rarity. Recorded in Northern California in 1984, Mark Banning's JOURNEY TO THE LIGHT is a true lost gem of private issue New Age music, an impossible-to-find album that is more spoken about than heard and deserves to be recognized alongside established classics of the genre. Incorporating processed electric guitar, zither, voice and field recordings, it is unabashedly beautiful music - two side-long pieces that feel as though they may have always existed, hanging in the air like a morning fog over the Pacific. As archetypal to the genre as Banning's compositions might appear to be, Banning's music has a seriousness and intensity that was absent from much of the New Age scene as it existed in the early 80 's. These heady, oddly prescient recordings were uncovered by New Age historian / figurehead Douglas McGowan (Yoga Records) and will appeal as much to fans of drone and ambient music as to those enamored with labyrinthine annals of American private press records.