Reflections in Repose captures the pure essence of Steve Roach’s ever-deepening intimate embrace of silence, breath, rich harmonic inventiveness, and shifting liminal states; it’s a sound and style completely unique to his electronic/ambient vision. Created over two evenings at the close of 2023, the music was recorded in the same sequenced flow as presented on the two discs’ 116 minutes. The five long-form tracks were performed on a single instrument — the Oberheim OB-X8 — the modern equivalent of the iconic Oberheim OB-8 which Steve used 40 years ago in the making of his classic piece “Structures from Silence.”
Steve reflects, “As I conceived these pieces, the intention and flow was to merge into the space where ‘Structures’ was born. Not as a nostalgic tribute but rather returning to the source where this essence lives within me. It’s the realm where I fully inhabit the emotional suspension and dynamic connection to the transportive power of sound. Expressing it in the moment with clarity and focus.”
Keith Korsgaard’s organic visual process:
For those of you who are curious of what the images in the video are, they are photographs of ice. The photographs have been created optically in camera, without any enhancement or manipulation. To create these unworldly images, I have developed a photographic technique over the years using low wattage bulbs as a light source and special photographic slides that are projected through various pieces of ice, thus refracting the light (what I call “Light Bending”). I also incorporate directional freezing to help eliminate most of the air bubbles within the ice.
Photography: Keith Korsgaard
Video Edit: Brennan Korsgaard
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