Well of Souls
by Darren Bergstein, Muze
In the company of Vidna Obmana, Roach enters more unsettling, darker territory. Spread out over two discs, WELL OF SOULS is chamber music for those of us wrestling with the late 20th century concept of 'ancient modern.' Having spent some time at Roach's southwestern abode before hitting the keys, both Vidna Obmana and Roach wrench ever more potent atmospheres from one another's machines and earthen noisemakers. Each of their individual muses meld expertly into the other's, but both figure into the grand scheme of things; fixate on Roach's command of sensuous, snake-charmer rhythms and monstrous troughs of sound, and Vidna Obmana's penchant for getting interstellar mileage out of even the most minimal of patterns. One might label WELL OF SOULS 'masterpiece,' – from the gorgeous, shadowy hieroglyphics of the digipak to the crepuscular habitues created on "Deep Hours" and "The Gathering," it's difficult to think of this richly imaginative work as anything but.
by Darren Bergstein, Muze
In the company of Vidna Obmana, Roach enters more unsettling, darker territory. Spread out over two discs, WELL OF SOULS is chamber music for those of us wrestling with the late 20th century concept of 'ancient modern.' Having spent some time at Roach's southwestern abode before hitting the keys, both Vidna Obmana and Roach wrench ever more potent atmospheres from one another's machines and earthen noisemakers. Each of their individual muses meld expertly into the other's, but both figure into the grand scheme of things; fixate on Roach's command of sensuous, snake-charmer rhythms and monstrous troughs of sound, and Vidna Obmana's penchant for getting interstellar mileage out of even the most minimal of patterns. One might label WELL OF SOULS 'masterpiece,' – from the gorgeous, shadowy hieroglyphics of the digipak to the crepuscular habitues created on "Deep Hours" and "The Gathering," it's difficult to think of this richly imaginative work as anything but.
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Steve Roach, Vidna Obmana 1995 Projekt PRO60 (CD, Poster) Reviewed by John Pemble, Detroit Metro Times, i/e, Muze, The Tracking Angle Steve Roach and Belgium-based Vidna Obmana in their first fully-realized duo project. A dark and inviting descent through textures that swirl and drift like liquid smoke while ethno-electronic grooves throb with primal urges. This double CD presents a "day" and "night" disc, starting with the rhythmic, then moving to pure atmospheric drifts. "This is an unequalled achievement and nothing in ambient or space-music can be compared... organic, graceful, it approaches the realm of the sacred." -- (Detroit Metro Times)
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