Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Palace Of Nectar
2. Oracle
3. Within The Mystic
4. Presence
5. Vortex Ring

Disc 2:

1. Wren And Raven
2. The Otherworld
3. Wonderworld
4. Threshold
5. Dream Body
6. Slowly Dissolve
7. Womb Of Night
8. Soulwave
9. Wordless
10. Nameless

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #56440 in Music
• Released on: 2003-06-03
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Special Edition

Amazon.com
After dark descents into the abyss on The Magnificent Void and Midnight Moon, Steve Roach lightens up the textures a bit on the double CD Mystic Chords & Sacred Spaces. The mood harkens back to his influential 1984 release, Structures From Silence, but the atmospheres are more textured and layered while melody is virtually non-existent. And while Structures had a slow motion pulse, Mystic Chords hangs rhythm free. It floats in a space of richly detailed, but minutely shifting sound constructs that owe more to Gyorgy Ligeti and Mark Rothko than early Roach touchstones like Klaus Schulze and Salvador Dali. Roach is creating a free fall through space, less rooted in the pulsing techno-tribal sound of his 1990s music, and more ecstatic in its evocations of something beyond. He carries you to groaning turgid depths, then lifts you as electric guitar glides and synthesizers gurgle, shudder, and swell in an Aurora Borealis of sound. --John Diliberto

Customer Reviews

Prefer the second disc set
While this is excellent, the second double CD set is superb. Can't get it on this site, so look elsewhere. It looks the same. It contains exquisite sounds such as "A subtle Body Current" which is just so uplifting. One of those album,s that you put on, then after a bit you hear noi more and you realize an hour has gone by in what seemed like 5 minutes.

Transcendental
If you like ambient music, this is a must-have composition that is 4 discs long. You can get discs 1 and 2 here, but to get the second half, disc 3 "Recent Future" and disc 4 "Piece of Infinity" you will have to shop at Steve's website www.steveroach.com or www.projekt.com

I have many other Steve Roach albums and collaborations and must say that this album is the most luminous. It just seems like you are being bathed in light. I have reached some interesting states while listening to Mystic Chords & Sacred Spaces 2 discs at a time. I haven't gotten around to listening to all 4 discs in a row in one day, but am pleased with them nonetheless. It is very relaxing, and some parts are more stimulating, but never jarring. Peaceful transcendent music.

Great ambient music
This CD (along with part II) plays at a low level at my desk at work. It's great and never gets old!