Innovative label, OtherSide have featured on these hallowed pages before, and now we have news of Portals & Spirals, the latest release from the incredibly prolific American, Steve Roach, a name which will be deeply familiar to those of you into their ambient & electronica music.
He presents you with two pieces, the first relatively short at just shy of 30 minutes, and the second, the title track, a monster at just over 43 minutes.
I really like this honest label, so would strongly recommend a visit to https://www.otherside.audio/ Further, you can see their Bandcamp page at https://othersideaudio.bandcamp.com/album/portals-and-spirals
Regular readers will appreciate that my usual detailed dissection of the tracks, and their meaning to me and/or the artist, is somewhat challenging when presented with two extraordinary pieces such as these, so let me provide you with a wordscape, as it were, and play you an excerpt.
From Steve himself, it focuses on sequencer-based rhythms and melodic beds both new and familiar in the Roach universe. All the usual analog, digital modular and percussive friends are here.
From the outset, there is a sense of drama to The Far Place, the atmosphere and pulsing notes drawing the listener in. I have condensed this piece into a short sampler for you to enjoy, and it is embedded below.
That sampler gives you a very good musical summary of the drama and soundscapes which this work creates.
For the main title track, my advice to you is to simply sit comfortably, close your eyes, eject all stressful thought and feelings you might have, and let this master of ambient soundscapes wash his magic all over you. This is not music to work to, to “relax to”, or have on as “background music”, it is music to immerse oneself in, reaching those inner portals, allowing the listener to spiral deep inside self, the textures and pulsing moods subtly developing as it moves on. Critically, this allows you to picture yourself wherever in the universe you choose to be, surrounded by stars, ancients, waves of galactic fusion, the closing passage percussive sounds taking you running along the special edge, single notes competing to take you over that edge.
This album is not for everyone, but it is essential music for those of you who adore such innovation.