Customer Reviews

immersion : one

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Steve Roach has been a pioneer of electronic, ambient and tribal music since the early '80s and continues to make impressive music to this day. With his latest release "Immerson: One", Roach has created a single 73-minute composition that is a continuous flow of atmospheric sound. There is very little to no change in the piece whatsoever. The music itself consists of a low volume keyboard drone (primarily set in G-minor) in which various wind and whistle-like tones weave in, out and through it. The piece is stylistically similar to the extended ambient works of Brian Eno (ie: Thursday Afternoon) and is a calm unintruding wash of sound.

Not only is the music minimal, its cover art is as well. Apart from the copyright, recording date and artwork credit, there are no liner notes with any musical explanation whatsoever. Also, the green 'waves' over a black background are minimalist at best. Steve definitely allows the music to speak for itself here.

If your a fan of minimalist ambient concept art, "Immersion: One" is definitely a must. Although Steve Roach has created music like this before, he hasn't done it to the extreme like he has here (ie: a single disc-long piece with unchanging moods). While this album may seem boring to some after the first ten minutes, it is still a very beautiful and effective piece of music. Great for relaxing, reading and writing.

A completely immersive minimalist ambient. There are no interruptions or sudden disturbing sounds, thus I've found this CD to be my favorite for studying, creative work, or any work that requires well focused concentration.

The entire hour+ composition consists of a rich, deep, multitimbral ambient sound. It doesn't vary greatly, but it is deeply colored with other subtle random sounds. This is how I imagine the Aurora Borealis may sound. I highly recommend this CD if you're in to this kind of music.

On a side note - I believe the two people who gave this CD such a poor review didn't fully understand what kind of music they were buying. I think they may have been looking for something that was "entertaining".

I'm always worried about bad ambient music or someone being a third or fourth rate Brian Eno, Also I hate these albums that come out and there is this god aweful ticking sounds which is annoying, my other complaints are flutes harmonizing in the background and dripping water and birds. and yes wind, bells and harmmonizing Awwwwwwwwwwwwweee angels.

with immersion One you don't get that thankfully. You get a long album and after you start playing it you forget its on and you can work your stuff. Now if you like that sort of thing this is your album and perhaps the immersion 2-3 as well.

Tonality, melody lines, rythm and technique make it easy to decide if you like a song/composition or not. But if all the above are absent or vague then what? Does it mean we need more "practised ears"? In some cases yes, but this is not the case.

It's up to what world you can build listening to the given frequencies/sounds, whether these sounds wake up memories of visited or unknown places, whether you can travel to these or beyond..

Two main sound pitches, one lower frequency (like the wind or water flowing through narrow passages) and one higher (not always present) giving a faint idea of tonality in minor scale and in between filled with sounds, continuous or not, that start from and fade back to the floating background.

So, is this enough to make a good CD? Is this enough to make it the best of Roach's immersion series (pt. 1,2,3)? For me, yes; for the rest, well, noone can deny that immersion 1 is the most distinguishable of them and unique. However, unique doesn't mean "best" nor that it should appeal to everyone.

This is my favourite of the Immersion albums, a single beautiful tune which slightly modulates, and which is then repeated cyclically to the end. So this is true 'Ambient' music, created as a background to something else: for uplifting meditation this can't be bettered.

I could compare this to Steve Reich's work or Philip Glass, but this is more cheerful, tuneful and uplifting than their minimalist work. There are no dark caverns or deep tunnels here, just a magical uplifting light-hearted tune, maybe on the flute of an Anasazi Indian, looping into the sunset. Very enjoyable!

immersion : one

I'm a special ed. teacher. I work with teens with disablities ranging from behavioral disorders to autism. I used this cd when teaching basic reading and writing skills and during independent practice. One of my Asperger's students hums along with the cd and verbally recreates the nuances in the music. Immersion:One creates a perfect environment for these kids and for me. I own several cds by Steve Roach including the double and triple discs which followed this one. Excellent cd.

I AM A HUGE FAN OF STEVE ROACH. I HAVE BEEN LISTENING TO HIM ON THE HEARTS OF SPACE PROGRAM FOR 20 YEARS! IT'S A GREAT MEDITATION AND TRANCE-INDUCING CD. I LOVE IT, AND THINK YOU WILL TOO!!!

I've been a Roach fan for decades. As a rule, I prefer his earlier works. This is an exception to that rule. Yes, this is beatless synth, that flows ever so slowly. As this music flows, it builds upon itself in complexity slowly, glacially, without you really realizing it. Unlike some other albums by his, this is NOT dark, in fact its surprisingly light. I like this much better than Immersion 3.

I have immersions one, two and three and right now this one is my favorite. Listening to this music will put you into a calm, peaceful state which frankly many people could use.

I enjoy the minimalist approach to this music, if indeed it is minimalist. There are several layers to this track, and it takes on a life of its own.

Great job, Steve.

I have bought many wonderful Roach albums and I have bought some bad ones. This is one of the bad ones. The whole drone background effect is destroyed by an ascending melody line on the first half of this piece. Melody and beat is anathema to ambient music as it leads to expectation and predictability. The melody line ceases half way through but it sure is annoying. I would have preferred 70 minutes of gently washing and shifting drones. A waste of my money.