Steve Roach: Atmospheric Conditions (CD)

Tracks


1. Underground Clouds Over A Secret Grotto
2. In The Heart Of Distant Horizons 
3. Two Rivers Dreaming
   total time 73:12

Not available in stores! Available exclusively by mail-order.

Over two years in the making, Atmospheric Conditions melts intoxicating soundworlds with an intention that’s pure and deep. Steve states, “as time goes on, I feel the need to create ever more potent soundworlds that maintain the opening beyond the ordinary states of consciousness we experience in our daily life, and at the same time provide an almost womb-like feeling that builds over time after numerous listenings.”

“Two Rivers Dreaming” recorded live in Italy as part of the Deep Listening Weekend spring 1999; the rest created at the Timeroom by Steve . This final blending of the Atmospheric Conditions was captured as a continuous live performance recorded direct to CDR in the Timeroom, Summer 1999.

“As with my other long form pieces, this music is created for continuous playback or with a multidisk player in automatic random succession with the Dream Circle, Slow Heat and the other extended soundworlds from my discography.” – Steve Roach

Never before has an album title been so apt. Once again Steve has released on his own Timeroom Editions an album of pure quality atmospheric music much akin to his precursor albums such as Slow Heat, and The Dream Circle. Where as those two albums shared one long continuous sound enviroment with suble key changes, Atmospheric Conditions is made up of three quite distinct sections. The overall effect is still meant to be heard as one flowing piece, but one can hear more variation from the sound palette used.

This new music can be played as a continuous playback background atmosphere if one wishes, or for a more intense experience by turning the volume up it can be used as a powerful soundworld to explore the music’s hidden depths, as with a conventional release.

“Underground Clouds Over A Secret Grotto” starts the album in suitably scene-setting fashion, the music gradually shifting around creating sound shapes and musical textures as if mimicking the constant changing of a cloud formation. The second stage of the album, “In The Heart Of Distant Horizons”, finds the album in an equilibrium of floating and ebbing washes of pure electronic sound. Before long a faint rhythmic element is added to the mix, adding a moving vital undercurrent that moves the track along its journey, before the last part of the album “Two Rivers Dreaming” takes the helm. This track comes from a live performance in Italy during the Spring of 1999, and its inclusion makes a worthy addition to the album, the live feeling of spontaneous performance coming across very well from what must have been an intense and magical night of music.