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Steve Roach often finds himself in the borderlands - exploring the edges of Electronic Music, and confirming that it is a genre much bigger than we ever imagined. His album Trance Archeology (73'56") uses sound to conjure a powerful mood, and tells a story that only each individual listener will know. A mystical landscape of the mind this release provides a fascinating mix of the organic, the tech-tronic, and the irresistible pull of possibility. Although this music is without words, it clearly resonates with hidden voices. Across its eight tracks Trance Archeology goes from mystic incantations to twisting nerve sparks and roiling synthesizer textures. Electrical currents course through this work, as does blood through the body - the muted roar of its rushing textures ever present, but well beneath the surface. At certain points the sound field seems to deconstruct down to a granular realm - which bestows a digital slowing that sinks us back in time. Further in, the tribal viral grooves and pulsing patterns establishes, then moves us across an undiscovered terrain. In an interesting use of looping percussion samples under spacious reverberation and innovative treatments, Roach conceives distances as remote as the moon, and as deep as thought. Beyond this heat there are also thought zones where the feel becomes more settled, locating a less energetic and more reflective atmosphere. These shifts are part of the dynamic equilibrium that is Roach's goal. Imagining and sounding its way into our minds Trance Archeology will be good for listeners, and even better for dreamers. Cut out against the void it digs to reveal turbulent states, and the temple of sound which is at the core of this musician. The silence that will follow is starkly different than the silence before this album began its spin - as we will then be in a much different space, and a much different peace.
Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END - 31 October 2019
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