Finally, redefine rhythm. Roach manages to juxtapose sinuous percussive elements against his vast floating structures in ways that inscribe the passage of time while hinting at infinity. I'm taking more broad sounds, like the sound of wind through a cracked door. I can record that and process it and put it into my equipment and turn that into a sound that is very rich and harmonic. For me, melody is in my music, but it's there in the way that melody is in African or Indonesian music, where they use a combination of instruments to create a tapestry of patterns or a lattice work.
Sounds carry the impact that a strong melody can have and can create a tremendous emotional pull.
Always prolific, Roach has recorded more than 40 albums, many of them at his home in Tucson. He gained a world-wide reputation with his 1988 album, Dreamtime Return , which mixed location recordings from Australia with synthesizers and percussion. It's almost like tapping into the collective consciousness. That to me has a lot to do with working with sound as a shamanic source. Roach's desert home includes his sophisticated recording studio, dubbed the Timeroom.