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Steve Roach: 2009 Box Set selling at dream speed

  Tobias

Fans of Roach will find the trilogy of hard to resist. All works are composed of single tracks clocking in at around the 74-minute-mark and dwell the same twilight zone between dream and waking that marked all but his entire output in the new millennium. While „Destination Beyond“ (which Roach describes as harking back to his classic „Structures from Silence“) has a romantic, yearning touch to it, „Immersion: Four“ will appeal to fans of his weightless, floating and ephemeral soundscapes. Sandwiched in between these more textural works, „Destination Beyond“ sticks out. For over an hour, cornucopian Sequencers rattle and ring in mesmerising patterns, lapsing back into a slowly shifting strata of sweetly shimmering strings. Likened by the press release as a natural successor to 2007's magnum opus „Arch of Passion“ (album of the month on this site), this record is already on repeat over here at tokafi-headquarters.

„Afterlight, along with its two companion releases Destination Beyond and Immersion Four were created over the the same time period, and all share a common sense of breath, interconnection and pursuit of timelessness“,  Roach mused on the albums contained in the 2009 Steve Roach Box Set, „Refined over several months, especially Afterlight was kept in constant low-volume playback during sleep, rest and times of reflection.“ The time spent on refining the music has certainly paid off: Only days after their official release, the box sets were down to 75 copies, with Roach struggling to keep up hand printing, signing and numbering them. A couple of days later, it was temporarily out of stock“. If and how soon they may become available again is not quite clear at this point. Disappointment should, however, be kept at bay by the fact that all releases will remain available as individual CDs.

Steve Roach has just returned to his Timeroom studio after a performance at the Immersion Festival on the same bill with Loren Nerell and Prog-Rock formation Djam Karet. Expect a Steve Roach Special on these pages very soon, including articles on his work as well as interviews with friends and collaborators.

Homepage: Steve Roach