Magnificent Void
Departing from the tribal themes that occupied him through most of the 1990s, Roach takes a philosophical leap intoVoid, directing his endless reverbs and glowering synth programs toward the speck at the center of the universe. Eschewing the indigenous drums and didgeridoos of hisDreamtime Return-era work, pieces like "Between the Gray and the Purple" could as easily be the soundtrack to a psychological thriller as a rumination on infinity. "Void Memory One" refracts sheets of pure frequency across a pitch-black galaxy; "Cloud of Unknowing" taps the elements in a maelstrom of cosmic wind and solar fire. What--too much imagistic hyperbole for you? Roach invites such musings, if only because he carries you down those dark corridors so convincingly. Sequenced as one continuous piece,Voidis an astral-gothic collage of fear, transcendence, and weightlessness; a high-water mark of space music; and one of Roach's finest hours.--James Rotondi