Steve Roach, Kevin Braheny & Michael Stearns "Desert Solitaire" (1987)

 

Mesmerized by opening track Flatlands, my morning walks exploring the cliffy sandstone shores of southern Portugal were elevated by its meditative qualities. Fit for the sunny Mediterranean climate, a rhythmic trance of exotic percussion guides us through unforgettable swells of dense soothing tone. Cycling through several stellar synths, blushes of warmth arrive on the heels of the prior rescinding surge. Emotions stir through apt chord selections on occasion too. Its a remarkable track, one I've returned to often, however this time, I was reminded that its appearance on Journeys To The Infinite, which I've covered previously, was a hand picked compilation of works.

I'm sadden to report, Desert Solitaire does not expand its opening majesty. More so, it picks apart its pieces, rearranging them into lengthy stints, sharing those initial aesthetic suggestions. With a theme of solitude in desolate regions, scorn by the heat of our sun in daytime, the record quietly picks through temperaments, moments of grandeur and scenic suggestions all laid bare through competent track titling.

A handful of songs try too cut the mold, Knowledge & Dust deploys an irritating stereo-pan, attempting trippy disorientation. Shiprock shifts its instrumental drone with a shrill cutting synth to usher in eerie nightly sounds. Empty Time returns this high pitched whine to conjure in baron horns and percussion on a lifeless wandering that seems to leads nowhere. These three are also the weaker pieces on the record.

Labyrinth feels completely out of place, a nightly spell of bleak, cloud swept skies converging on imitate dusk. A lurch of conspiracy and lonely unease wrestles with its subtle reliefs of tension that dissipate like waves on a beach. Its a stunning piece of darkly atmosphere but more fitting of a Dungeon Synth record to these ears.

The other remaining songs flesh out the tones heard on Flatlands. Those swells of tone, now elongated into soothing drones to transform your imaginations. Its all to typical of this genre to comment on deeper but a handful of them merit return for conjuring these meditative moods, this time with a warmer climate than usual.

Rating: 6/10

Steve Roach "Mystic Chords & Sacred Spaces" (2003)

As of late, I've needed focus and calm. With Mystic Chords & Sacred Spaces, I've found that, a spiritual soothing far from hurried. In search of temporal meditations to aid the mind, Steve Roach's daunting discography has gems to be unearthed. Its knowing where to look that's tricky. With apt research into online discussion, the record popped up alongside his classics on occasion. As a massive 150 minute experience, it serves as a majestic ethereal tone setter, devoid of any sense of structure.

Each track dissolves into the next as its array of dense soundscapes are explored, carved apart with the notable aesthetic shifts. Melody and rhythm are absent, this is all about texture explored through temporal organics as its existence sways to the whims of winds, the invisible hand. Every moment is singular and unmovable, yet in a constant state of shimmering change. Sure, a few eventful transitions and animated passages are wedged in sporadically but for the most part, its mesmerizing demeanor hinges on the deep reverberations that birth these shapeless musical forms.

 Its first half is superior, a select cut of lengthy sessions, each reveling in their particular flavor. The second half plays more like a jam session, split into parts as tones are transformed on the fly. Its leads to shorter cuts that don't quite fit the meditative format. Whats remarkable is how masterfully Steve constructs these sounds. Despite being somewhat predictable in nature, they still conjure and evoke a stillness in the mind of this listener. Oracle was the track that did that best for me.

Rating: 6/10

Suspended Memories "Earth Island" (1994)

 

Reuniting to follow up on the entrancing dusky spells of Forgotten Gods, the trio tread lukewarm waters, unable to spark the temporal magic that sung before. Failing to find fresh distinctions, their worldly disjointed percussive lines and ancient cultural chants rub up against airy atmospheric synths in a mediocre affair. With soft keyboard driven ambiences, its smooth, cloudy synthetic chemistry resides in a lofty yet unassuming place. Danger and mystique or awe and wonder rarely engulf quite like before.

Hinted strongly in naming and presentation, the album cover, Earth Island yearns for a cosmic perspective, yet even the brief chatters of astronaut communications nestled in doesn't sharpen this vision. Melting World offered immersion, a grade above the rest, but it also marked a shift. The initial human link between stars and stones shatters as a darkly brooding unease encroaches before the final two songs break pace again.

These ambient works often feel subjected to mood and fatigue more so than other genres. So i'd take my words lightly. One can hear the trio trying to move the Aztec inspired soundscape out of its shadowy realm, turning to an uplift, brighter in spirit, yet earthly and deep. The two ideal either don't gel, or lacks execution. Subsequently, the gravity that came before is illusive despite the mild meditative calm it conjures.

Rating: 5/10

Suspended Memories "Forgotten Gods" (1993)

Fancying another foray into the works of Steve Roach, a musician with too many records to count, I couldn't help but notice its popularity on Spotify alongside the pivotal works of Structures From Silence and Dreamtime Return. The latter leaves its legacy on Forgotten Gods with the consistent jabber of worldly, cultural and ancient percussive sounds. The construct, like before, is beautifully disjointed, deconstructed and abstract from the norms of groove and rhythm found in western music. Although in any moment its strikes and hits seem free and sporadic, its arch find a meditative pace, holding the atmosphere together with a steady, easy temperament.

Suspended Memories is the name for Roach's collaboration with fellow ambient artists Jorge Reyes of Mexico and Suso Saiz of Spain. A cultural tie to the Aztecs feels beyond relevant. With distant native chants and baking dusty echos, the musical pieces delve into the shamanic mystique the mysteries of lost civilizations can conjure. Both warm yet nightly, one can envision the blistering heat of desert sands, secrets laying in wait under weathered tombs. Equally, its drafty tone and dreamy presence has the cautious calm of night. Dangers lurk in the shadows yet the listener is always safe within the ambience. These contrasts co-exist, allowing one to hear their own adventure within the music. It may not be intentional but has been remarkable.

As the title Forgotten Gods hints, its theme evoke celestial wonders lost to the decay of time. As expected the record explores a variety of temperaments. Snake Song and Mutual Tribes appealed strongly to desert vibes I initially thought of as Egyptian but on further study, the inspiration was likely a historical middle American. Ritual Noise was the darkest track on offer, a lone song where a nefarious presence gets a little to close for comfort. Despite its devilishness, all the music is beautifully soothing and meditative. I've heard these sounds encroached on prior, yet the trio handle it so masterfully. This is absolutely another favorite for the ambient collection.

Rating: 8/10

Steve Roach "Journeys To The Infinite" (2020)

Having spent a pretty penny on records this month, the availability of a free compilation was a welcome one. Once again the itch developed for some relaxing meditative music of which Steve Roach is both a master and pioneer. With this being a collection of eight tracks all from different projects, there was much to enjoy. All were new to me, with exception to one song rehashing a keen temporal melody off Structures From Silence. With such variety on display it is hard to comment on the particulars but I found myself in awe of the apparent ease and simplicity of his unfolding compositions, which are inherently deceptive as time silently ticks by.

The songs start in timid places. Simple arrangements of atmospheric synths or modulated synths, unimposing in stature, lure one into the fold. As the master does, the music grows patiently. Layers build and a thick atmosphere engulfs one with stealth. Later into these lengthy constructs one can be in awe of the density that amounts to such deep and spiritual insights. With eighty two minutes of finely crafted, temporal, meditative ambience peering into the mind, its easy to get lost in this record.

With such a plethora of music produced and continuing to create, it can be daunting to know where to go with his catalogue but it seems the musician has a constitute quality to his output. Maybe this compilation will serve as a jumping on point to another album as I find myself keenly curious by the soundscapes he forges. I particularly liked Skeleton Passage with its Tangerine Dream vibes and also the subtle world music ques akin to another classic Dreamtime Return on two of the songs. Fine music!

Rating: 7/10

Radiant Mind & Steve Roach "HelioSphere" (2019)

In need of indulgent ambiences and meditative music I turned to Steve Roach again, who has an large and extensive collection of records under his belt at now 64 years of age. Dreamtime Return had, excuse the pun, returned to my consciousness, setting a spiritual atmosphere for my yoga practice. Looking for a new flavor I picked out this collaboration with Radiant Mind. Eight tracks and sixty four minutes of calm and soothing, gentle streams of sound to evoke peace and reflection. Its all steady and linear, temporal music stripped of event and urgency. All chapters offer different pallets and arrangements of synths and reverberation conjuring safe and warm atmospheres that also feel a fraction of mystery as an astral component blesses the music. One can feel the stars graciously drifting by in the stillness it masters with its layers of yawning, hazy sound drifting in and out of focus, just a grasp away.

The seventh track takes a slight and welcome detour from this construct. Ironically similar to Yagya, who's new Stormur release I recently covered, it has a pulse from start to end, a subdued dub beat gently droning its monotone pulse through the spine of the song. It adds a little pace and movement to the track as a key instrument lingers around the attention it draws, coming in and out of focus like the breath. Like the other songs there is little progression to the sound design yet the beat gives it a sense of presences the others don't have. It stands in contrast but works in the overall run time which is less about a bigger picture and more about minutes in which to loose your thoughts to the persuasive calmness. Its a simple and effective formula executed well enough to reach that space and feeling of inner peace.

Rating: 6/10

Steve Roach "Eclipse Mix" (2017)

In the mood for more meditative music I stumbled onto a free, hour long release from Ambient master Steve Roach! It is initially quite the uneventful and hard to pin down record as its soft alluring drones of calmness continuously perpetuate the stillness of space. The spacial humming murmurs illusive creaks of notes that fall like a blanket, one big blur of rising sound that makes a moment feel eternal. The knobs and dials of Steve's synthesizers are tweaked to that magic tone where the reverberations ooze into one another as gleaming synths seem to turn over each other without collision. It grows in intensity, its repeating elements building up and then unwind.

The calm, inviting space carved in the beginning of the track gives way to a darker shift as the twenty minute mark passes. Eerie, uneasy synths bring disharmony to the forefront with buried, disjointed melodies and reverberations that sound reversed to unsettle the listener. Whenever enjoy the relaxing music in the background, it doesn't take long to notice this shift in tone as one feels on edge in its presence. Beyond this phase the music rears itself on an icy path, the warmth and fire of the two opening phases seem distant, the tone is of limbo, as the new setting holds hints of these differing dynamics yet is suspended between them all.

It lacks the distinct and consistent tone of the opening, always unsettled by subtly shifting and allowing for big, glacial synth tones to rise, melt and flood the soundscape. It may be devoid of obvious melody but it becomes quite eventful in the final phases as big brooding sounds revolve around each other and cut the stillness like passing monoliths, inanimate but massive in scope and presence. All in all its a really enjoyable hour when in the right mood. I sought something out and got exactly what I was looking for! Best of all it was free on Steve's bandcamp page!

Rating: 6/10

Steve Roach "Mercurius" (2018)

Far from the minimalist magic of Structures From Silence or the spiritual revelations of Dreamtime Return, I underestimated what an old master would be up to far from the emergence of Ambient music. Steve has not lost his touch, Mercurius delivers four soundscape pieces amassing over seventy minutes between them. This lengthy record isn't about event and progression. Its built around mood and tone and with layers of select synthetic tones and appropriate reverberations Steve conjures gleaming, glossy and meditative atmospheres to sink the mind into. It may be thought of as background music but it is potent and powerful, sucking one in slowly.

Liminal is a light and airy piece of peaceful ambiguity, gentle murmuring synths drifting in and out of focus with a heavenly vibe that flirts with illusive melodies. The lengthy Immanent rumbles into darker, spacey territory with its deeper, dense synth tones bleeding lengthy notes that overlap as they fade in and out of each other. Aeon is my favorite, with a similar pallet to Liminal but spiraling instruments take on a psychedelic sense of exploration as a semblance of tune and melody creeps in. Mercurius has a thick, rich smothering of smooth synths with a grander stretch of sound fading in and out, having the closest sense of "event" in bulging growths of volume.

All in all its an easy record to let pass you by as its soft atmospheres breath slowly and the uneventful nature of the music may dull but in the right moment its meditative magic seeps forth and will cast its calming spell. It did take a few listens to click and now its a noted "go to" for in need of some calming relaxation. A great listen!

Favorite Track: Aeon

Rating: 7/10

Steve Roach "Dreamtime Return" (1988)

American composer Steve Roach's third major release, Dreamtime Return, has been lavished with praise, finding its way onto many essential listening lists, especially within the Ambient community. I share in its appraisal but must also put my trust in the critics who cite the records significance. The ideas on this record are not new to me, its execution however is stunning and to put yourself in the mindset that this is the first emergence of these new approaches to sound creates little more excitement. It barely elevates the already metaphysical experience at hand, which is truly transformational music at heart.

Temporal, meditative and deeply spiritual, the sonic pallet of spacey, exploratory electronic synths advance into the winds of life as the beating heart of mother earth pounds through slow, vast tribal drums and percussive instruments. They form a disconnected experience as their tempos are stretched by the lack of any measurable groove. In sway deep, engrossing sounds, phasing in and out of existence around the illusive anchor to reality. The atmospheres are large and engulfing yet with the percussive backbone they feel earthed by scale, as if primitive man gazes in awe upon the unending lands of earth he can explore eternally.

It is simple to dissect and understand the musics formula yet the power and persuasion it has over a willing listener is the work of a master. Dreamtime Return lasts over two hours and there are some sections that will appeal more than others but its length is testament to the metamorphosis it takes into the roots of our culture-less heritage. In my personal experience I see baking red deserts, vast savannahs and tropical paradises, all beautiful and deadly, the life of an apex predator far from the emancipation of civilizations neutering.

The spiritual side, embraced by the sweeping, windy synths, induces a subtle psychedelic quality that make me think of native Americans on spirit journeys or vision quests, an intrinsically profound experience under the aid of chemicals. There is a strange sense of isolation within the music but it is not loneliness, the hypnotic nature of the record will let one find their symbiosis with mother nature and bask in the awe of insignificance we are as individuals. Where Structures In Silence gazed upon the cosmos, this record gazed internally to the core of our being.

Rating: 9/10

Steve Roach "Structures From Silence" (1984)

Every now and then you stumble on the record you have been waiting to hear, years of adoring ambient music has had me desiring for an experience so simple yet deeply majestic and here it is. American composer Steve Roach's third full length is considered a classic within the genre and it takes one listen to know why. The seventies brought in an electronics revolution thanks to the likes of Kraftwerk and Progressive Rock outfits who embraced synthesizers. Brian Eno emerged at the forefront of this musical movement with his Ambient record series, brandishing the term and laying down foundations that would inspire many artists to come.

One of them is Steve Roach, who on this record focuses much of his efforts into the texture of his synthesizers, which at the time were big old clunky machines that had lots of knobs, dials and cables to manage. Working them was a true craft that would of taken Steve much time to achieve the gloriously soft and airy tones heard on this record. That may of made it sound like a novelty of sorts but the power and magic of these finely tuned instruments gives tremendous weight to stirring an enchanting atmosphere that's stood the test of time.

In terms of its composition, many sounds are temporal and devoid of any obvious melody or structure. These three songs, thirteen, seventeen and almost thirty minutes long focus on the arrival, duration and departure of astral synths that find chemistry with one another in their passing encounters. The length of one note bleeds into another an in some instances their unions persuade with the power of a chord but its temporal nature diverts the pace and measure required for melody to emerge, giving enigmatic influences to the instruments ability to memorize with its aesthetic.

The atmosphere and visions it conjures may be rather personal. Its smooth, calming persuasion and gentle pace is undoubtedly relaxing and soothing but the places it takes you may differ from one listener to the next. For me a feeling of immersion in a moment takes place. Time stands still and one can gaze their eyes upon the details that a slice of time has hidden in its arcane mystery. Color and cosmic wonder cross the mind in what to many might be star gazing music, to look up and ponder, to look inwards and reflect. Steve's compositions put the mind at ease and subsequently opens a door to deeper thoughts locked in the crevasses of the mind.

Rating: 9/10