Product Description
2 strands 8:39
3 cloud space 6:18
4 encounter passage 2:13
5 isolation 14:04
6 spires 10:39
7 InnerZone 25:23
Step into the InnerZone with surrealist soundsculptors Steve Roach and vidnaObmana on their first new collaborative work since 1999’s quickly sold-out limited edition box set Ascension of Shadows. Venturing off safe and well travelled roads, the duo head into a chilling and beautifully haunting realm of shape-shifting soundscapes mixed with fascinating rhythmic forms. An unusual combination of instruments both acoustic and electronic can be heard on this compelling release. Central is the fujara, a East-European overtone flute, and the electric guitar — both creatively altered with a multitude of audio processing equipment to create a hybrid electro-acoustic mix. The final merging of surreal acoustic, electronic elements and deep “inner” rhythms creates a bold new atmospheric music experience.
padmin –
From Star’s End
The circle, ripe with cosmic associations, is a most mysterious object. Often representing infinity, the line of a circle does not begin nor does it really ever end – a seemingly endless sequence of events. It is this perplexing concept that Steve Roach + Vidna Obmana are consumed with in their musical collaborations. The dark soundscapes that are brought forth on the album InnerZone are the result of loops; cycles of sounds layered in and out of phase that mature into spheres of pensive ambience. Throughout the album, the duo conjure up drifting soundworlds that absorb the listener into the flow. But the cyclical nature of this conceptualization is most easily noticed when the musical current picks up and the beats emerge. The ring of rhythms repeat their rapid circuits, surfacing out of the aural fog, breathe, then back down below. Along with the prevailing synthesized sounds, InnerZone features an array of unconventional acoustic sources; distorted, shifted, delayed and otherwise processed – almost beyond recognition. These accents add an exotic flair to the album’s uniform sonic circulations. As in other forms of minimalism, this realization offers little in the way of melody to focus on. Instead, it asks the listener to go beyond this convention and into the pulse, timbre and spirit of the music – to discover their own InnerZone experience. -Chuck van Zyl