Immersion: Two
Steve Roach makes music that moves outside of conventional time and space. As when small pebbles are tossed in a placid pond, his subtle changes have monumental effects, because the dynamics have been lowered and time stretched to the edge.  That's why, at about the 23-minute mark of this 73-minute ambient opus, it's such a shock when a low growl--like slow-motion waves--breaks across the speakers.  "Artifact Ghost," the only composition onImmersion: Two, is another of Roach's long-form works, harkening back toStructures from Silencebut without even that album's distended melodic sway. As a gentleTwilight Zone-like siren sound wafts its way in the far distance, Roach does a slow dive into a music of deep viscosity.  With sounds rustling like insects prattling in the eaves and the wind brushing branches against the window, "Artifact Ghost" will either scare you out of your pants or take you out of your body. OnImmersion: Two, Steve Roach continues to make a rarefied sound as the Mark Rothko of electronic music.--John Diliberto