Steve Roach: Midnight Moon

roa-mm.jpg (13k) Steve Roach: Midnight Moon
(Projekt - 2000)

When Roger King would leave his guitars in the Timeroom studio during the recording of Dust to Dust, Steve Roach's natural musical curiosity led him to explore this unfamiliar instrument. Midnight Moon illuminates these experiments of intuition, as Roach's guitar discoveries receive further processing and reshaping into the darkened washes of sound heard here. Mr. Roach tells more in this month's AmbiEntrance exclusive interview.

Hazily drifting tendrils emerge in soft, hyperextended strands from within the Ancestors Circle; a mood of thoughtful reverence pervades these droning rays which are so diffused as to not readily be apparent as guitar sounds. Spacious pluckings and slides reverberate from Roach's Midnight Loom (22:03) with which he weaves a lengthy, flowing tapestry of nocturnal colors. As one might expect, the atmospheres of Deadwood seem a bit darker, with spookily descending drones within a cavernous space.

Rather brassy tones flow through streets of Broken Town, sounding like intermittent horns blaring through a thick atmosphere and punctuated by occasional bass swells. Gradually fading in from silence, Hope (5:00) churns in dense almost-symphonic waves, sounding like a stately (and processed) brass-and string-section. Billowing waves slowly spiral from Later Phase, looping outward in celestial gusts and backed by audible strums here and there.

Layers of variously pitched sound add further depth to Moon and Star as nighttime entities communicate through expansively drawn out phrases, overlapping and criss-crossing in broad strokes.

A musical moment that cannot be recaptured, Midnight Moon scores an 8.6 for a uniquely experimental application of intuitive musicality. My only criticism is that the tracks tend to be rather samey, though as long as you're enjoying the flow that shouldn't be a problem. Consider this an interesting detour down a side road in Steve Roach's neverending sonic journeys. 8-6.gif
This review posted April 29, 2000

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