Steve Roach - The Reflecting Chamber

Steve Roach (born February 16, 1955, in La Mesa, California, USA) is an American ambient musician and composer. As a pioneering cornerstone of ambient-atmospheric-electronic music, internationally-renowned artist Steve Roach has dedicated nearly three decades to exploring myriad soundworlds that connect with a timeless source of inspiration. From the expansive, time-suspending spaces reflecting his spiritual home in Arizona to the fire breathing, rhythmic-shamanic expressions woven from all things electric and organic, Roach has earned his position in the global pantheon of major new music artists through a long list of groundbreaking recordings fueled by his prolific nature and uncompromising approach.

Roach stands on his own unique ground and brings into form a kind of recognition through sound that speaks of the ages in a language understood by people across many cultures and continents. It's this primordial recognition in the sound that creates a bridge out of everyday reality and returns to a larger scope of the wonder and awe of life's ebb and flow. The core of this innovative world of sound has been nourished by years of intense live concerts in many extraordinary settings worldwide, directly enhancing the emotive, cinematic, soul-stirring depth of his music.

Inspired early on by regular soul-searching trips to the Southern California deserts and mountains, along with the discovery of German synth icons Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream and the European electronic music of the 70's, Steve started his musical explorations directly on synthesizers in 1978. He made his recording debut with the album NOW (Fortuna) in 1982. Two years later he created one of the most pivotal albums of his early career, STRUCTURES FROM SILENCE (Fortuna/Projekt) which was one of the landmark ambient releases of the 80's, presenting a new sound for its time which lives on today; the fourth edition was released in 2001. This album contained three long tracks of reflective, intimate timbres, and cascading lush harmonic waves. Roach enhanced the listener's awareness and sense of their physical surroundings by capturing the influence of his experiences with deep meditations and the infusion of slow breath and silence into soundscape. Soon after this release had established itself in the 80's new music landscape, QUIET MUSIC (Fortuna) was released to further accolades, including praise from minimal master Harold Budd. The passion of this young artist was well under way.