ROACH, STEVE 
701582
2CD
EARLY MAN (2CD SET)

SPACE/COSMIC (SYNTH)

Over the years album after album from Steve Roach keeps coming and still the quality level stays right at the top. The whole of this nearly two and a half-hour long set illustrates that point to perfection. So, how does this one differ and what makes it so special? Well, disc1 is the main album, while disc 2 is a sort of reconstruction, or deconstruction, of the first, but both are space music gems that each consist of essentially over seventy minutes of music that comes over as one single organic track. What makes the first CD one of his finest is the variety and textures of the electronics and keyboards that he is using, allied to the fact that he has at last achieved the perfect combination of ‘space’ with selected ‘rhythmic’ passages, all of which are entirely in keeping with, and are, vital components of the assorted cosmic layers that are occurring all around you.

This comes in the form of a descending and ascending motif, a bit similar, but entirely unconnected with, a musical phrase used on an album released through a CD Services in house label by Doug Snyder, and a phrase which is just fantastic in either context. After these opening layers the scene is set, with the piece and its components developing and cruising through seemingly infinite space on waves of textural synths, percussives and heavenly sounds. Eventually the arrival of that oh-so subtle cyclical backdrop completes the soundscape over the entire changing length of the track, and it is a truly wondrous sea of sounds that genuinely make up his finest album for ages, despite the fact that the previous few have all been immaculate anyway, but this one is something out of this world altogether. The sheer breadth of the sounds and textures on offer is unreal, and it is the fact that things are always changing, always developing, always progressing towards some far-off point, that make this such a superb album. If all that wasn’t enough, the second CD takes an altogether purer space music approach to things with a reduced variety of textures, but more synthesizer layers – The sort of album that in Roach’s world, becomes a thing of unbelievable beauty and purity. However, the thing that is the crowning glory on both albums, is the human factor – The warmth, the atmosphere and the sense of real feeling that Roach brings to his music is something special indeed, carefully crafting each and every section with all the love and affection required to be a master musician. Quite an outstanding piece of cosmic music!

Weight: 250.00 g