Release data:

Steve Roach – Slow Heat
CD, Timeroom Editions, 1998

Here’s another fine addition of ambient wallpaper intended for infinite playback. The continuous 71-minute soundscape making up “Slow Heat” is inspired by the desert environment and severe heat conditions surrounding Steve’s habitat. Imagine slow morphing textural spheres interacting with and sustaining each other in a constant minimal framework where an expansive silencing current leads the way.

The ethereal drift incorporating environmental recordings reminds a bit of the path followed on “The Dream Circle”, but most of the tribal vibe (the mesmerizing sound of the rain stick is still in there) while still spreading its calming, sedative aura as its velvet waves wash ashore and retreat. When you play this in the background or listen more attentively with headphones, the sonic drift simply becomes the simmering heat spiralling down relentlessly in the remote desert ambience.

The result travels through many subtle layers and is so visual that it’s a natural extension of the place that inspired it, profoundly breathing the weather, the atmosphere, the sky and the expansive views encountered in the aformentioned conditions.
Compared to “The Dream Circle”, I rate the quality immersion evoked by “Slow Heat” much higher.

Website: www.steveroach.com

You can see what reviews I have done of this artist on the Steve Roach artist page