Steve Roach — Atmosphere For Dreaming

Atmosphere For Dreaming is a long-form example of gently morphing, soothing, and at times semi-psychedelic deep ambience from long-running American ambient pioneer Steve Roach. It finds him presenting the listener with a seventy-three-minute track that seemingly has no beginning or end, as Mr. Roach expertly sculptures & ebbs the delicate tones into hazy & lulling wash of sound.

The 2019 released CD appears on Roach’s own label Timeroom Editions- with the disc presented in a digipak featuring a landscape of small mosaic-like blocks of shapes & colors, this nicely fits the music with-in, as the whole thing has a very amorphic feel about it. Not sure how many of these were pressed, but I can’t imagine it been a huge amount.

The 73.58 track was recorded in 2018- and was a result of Roach working on a long-form immersion piece for before his 2018 Return To The Dreamtime concerts- according to the releases linear notes he was working on this track for four-months gentle shaping & sculpting the tracks flow.

After a building rush of lightly clamoring drone & rising ambient warmth. We slow slip into the track's main setting- which finds Roach stretching out a very lulling pallet of hover highs, hazy simmers, and lightly fleeting/ warming ebbs- around this we find the addition of blended roost birdsong and organic darts ‘n’ knocks. The track elements seemingly blur & blend the further we get into proceedins, and this is where the semi-psychedelic feel. The use of bird song & organic tones, with slow morphing drones & hazes of ambience brought to mind one or two tracks on the two Volumes  of 2003  Mystic Chords & Sacred Spaces- though it feels a little more glowing & brightly hazed in its intent.

Atmosphere for Dreaming isn’t re-inventing the long ambient form, or doing something that Roach has attempted before- but it does create a worthy & soothing sonic escape route from the busy & pressing world around us. Head here to hook up a copy