Immersion: one

Review by: Kristen Tilbury
Steve Roach's Immersion:one is an album filled with soft, minimal ambience that flows for 73 minutes without stopping. It's like a smooth trip from beginning to end because there are no peaks or valleys on this album. Like Hollan Holmes' cover art, the music itself is like a transient beam of green light against a black background, shimmering like a jewel in a pool of clean water. Then, as the music progresses, the light thickens and expands, at first merely touching everything in its path, but afterwards it starts to explore all areas of life--from sadness to joy, from the human spirit to the human soul. Steve's glowing textures
can penetrate a winter's chill and wrap a person in
a blanket of light green air.

On this album, Steve plays with sound in the same way that artists play with shade and color. He uses different techniques from his sound palette to create an abstract masterpiece. Some would consider his music to be solely ethereal, and though this is true in many aspects, I think the term
"ethereal" has begun to wear itself out. I think it's only fair to describe his music in more technical ways since none of his albums fit neatly in the ethereal music category. Of course, all of them are right at home on the Projekt label. Projekt has done so much to introduce new elements to the ethereal music scene, and because of this it would be a little unfair to call Projekt an "ethereal label."
Projekt, along with Steve's ambience, spans across a large variety of subgenres.

Immersion:one is a very lovely album. It's soft and subliminal, not unlike his 2002 work Darkest Before Dawn. The only difference is this: Darkest Before Dawn is quiet and passive and dark, dark, dark...
Immersion:one is not quite as dark and is less drone-like. Also it was recorded for a conscious trip instead of an unconscious one. It's a truly stunning album, and I will gladly give Steve 5 stars for it. This one is truly a masterpiece.