“Low Volume Music is mainly for lovers of a very immersive ambient music”
1 Here 8:01 2 Whisper 12:44 3 Closed 8:12 4 Bow 14:28 5 Haze 15:14 PROJEKT| PRO277
(CD/DDL 58:42) (V.F.)
(Deep, dark ambient music)
Like tears of violin chasing the void, Here envelops us in a deep morphic veil with a series of synth layers that float, intertwine and curl up among a fine mist of angel dust to mold a captivating ethereal approach. The heaviness of these passive synth layers' deployment goes by oblong lines of ether that make us hear an intense ballet whose slow movements break up the excitement that grips us in order to bring us to the deep peace of mind that commands the listening of LOW VOLUME MUSIC. Almost 10 years after Innerzone, the duo Roach & Obmana gets back to us with a new album on Projekt Records. Dark and invasive, LOW VOLUME MUSIC presents 5 long very ambient tracks where the eclectic duo used to create dark immersive approaches is showing the mastery of their minimalist art with fine variations in their dark dormant structures nourished by thin lines of harmonic dualities, destabilizing the amorphous zone announced by a musical genre that must constantly tap into creativity to avoid redundancy.
Whilst Here is written in black ink, Whisper brings its first nuances to this latest work by Steve Roach and Dirk Serries with a series of underlying chords that turn in loops in this intense morphic canvas with a thousand ethereal synth layers. It looks like discreet chords of an absent guitar which radiates its fine iridescent sound particles to shimmer in a stagnant nothingness. Closed continues this surge of interwoven tones and propels us back in time with its enveloping waves adorned by ocher colors. Each embrace releases streaks of absent voice. It feels like the dawn of Michael Stearns' M'Ocean or the edge of Western Spaces by Steve Roach, Kevin Braheny and Richard Burmer. The approaches are as attractive as they are soothing with these slow lines and arcs of the synths that speak to us, sing to us and whisper in our ears with an infinite immersive tenderness. It's at this moment that LOW VOLUME MUSIC divides its approach with two distinct tones, one always dark and the other brighter, which are twisted in a firmament filled with angelic passion. Bow and Haze also float on this duality of phases with layers of mixed tones that soar like the wings of a redemptive angel, drawing contemplative curves that we just want to hang on to flee from reality.
Very ambient not to say sluggish, LOW VOLUME MUSIC is intended above all for music lovers of very immersive atmospheres. Despite the 10 years between their last collaborations, the music of Roach & Obmana has not aged a wrinkle and offers a musical journey imbued with serenity with floating ambient elements that surround us and capture our imagination in order to bring us to the tranquility targeted by the duo. It's the perfect album to unwind and find inner peace, where Steve Roach's love to hear is always hidden.
Sylvain Lupari (September 14th, 2012) *****
Available at Projekt Records Bandcamp