by Matt Howarth, Sonic Curiosity
2004
This CD from 2004 offers 73 minutes of softly rhythmic ambience.
Joining Roach on this release are: Patrick O'Hearn on bass and guitar textures, Will Merkle on bass, and Byron Metcalf on frame drum and percussion.
Some of Roach's finest moments employ tenuous percussive threads, usually of a remote tribal disposition. This music falls squarely into that cherished category. The introduction of basslines provides an evolutionary bump for the tuneage, transporting Roach's atmospheric soundscapes into a realm that seethes with undercurrents of earthy quality.
The sedative nature of this music is tinged with dreamlike tones, inverting the sonic drift from expansive conditions to inner space. The tunes ooze among the cerebral folds, enhancing the brain's synaptic connections with synthetic bonds. Ethereal tonalities become akin to moody ruminations, goading turgid thoughts into a serene pool that is stirred only by intriguing embellishments of electronic creation. Stress fades, swallowed by the cloud-like sonic formations. Tension is replaced by curiosity.
The gentle patter of almost subliminal percussion blends with the flux of delicate synthetic textures that reverberate with psychic elation. Fervent but tranquil, these rhythms stimulate the listener more than the melody, existing as a subtle counterpoint to the drifting currents of ambient pulsations. The electronics sigh and undulate high overhead, while the immediate environs swarm with ghostly harmonics designed to lull and relax.
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Steve Roach 2004 Projekt PRO154 (CD) Reviewed by All Music Guide, amazon.com, amazon.com, Ambient Musings, Ambient Review, Ambient Visions, Ambient Visions, CD Services (UK), Electroambient Space, Electronic Shadows, Hypnagogue, Morpheus Music, Ping Things, Sonic Curiosity, Tokafi, Tokafi, Valley Scene (San Fernando Valley, California), Wind and Wire Within the opening moments of FEVER DREAMS' first track, "Wicked Dream" featuring Patrick O'Hearn on bass, it is clear that a new chapter is opening on Steve Roach's long and winding pursuit of potent soundworlds far off the traveled path. The music's foundation is built upon long mid-tempo hybrid grooves with strong bass elements created from a combination of acoustic and electronic means. Steve Roach's atmospheric and loop-spun melodic guitar textures rise and fall, intermix with his synth and computer alchemy to create an aura of complex emotional import. The overall feeling of FEVER DREAMS is one shrouded in an exotic amber-colored light filtering through an overgrown mental landscape of last night's lingering FEVER DREAMS; the sensual atmosphere is especially present on the 30 minute track "Tantra Mantra" featuring percussionist Byron Metcalf. This release of floating, hypnotic groove meditations sets the course on a new direction presented over the three interconnected "Fever releases" planned throughout 2004.
With Patrick O'Hearn (bass), Byron Metcalf (percussion). |