Fever Dreams by Steve Roach

Dreaming the Future...Posted June 14, 2019
This genre defying 2004 release was the first chapter in the Fever Dreams Trilogy, Drawing from the sonic DNA of Steve’s Tribal Ambient releases that include Origins and Artifacts along with Suspended Memories and collaborations with Byron Metcalf and Robert Rich. Master Bassist Patrick O”Hearn brings a body groove element to this music on Wicked Dream that absolutely lives up to the title.

Steve’s trance tracks, synth and processed electronic guitar and looping textures are infused with Byrons Frame Drum and Udu perccussion inner weaves that connect to the spirit of Jon Hassell’s 4th World innovations while mapping out a unique voice in Steve Roach’s pursuit of this new direction he dubbed as "electro erotic" and explored over 3 Fever Dreams releases.


Original release information from 2004:
Within the opening moments of Fever Dreams’ first track, “Wicked Dream” featuring Patrick O’Hearn on bass, it is clear that a new chapter is opening on Steve Roach’s long and winding pursuit of potent soundworlds far off the traveled path. The music’s foundation is built upon long mid-tempo hybrid grooves with strong bass elements created from a combination of acoustic and electronic means. Steve Roach’s atmospheric and loop-spun melodic guitar textures rise and fall, intermix with his synth and computer alchemy to create an aura of complex emotional import. The overall feeling of Fever Dreams is one shrouded in an exotic amber-colored light filtering through an overgrown mental landscape of last night’s lingering fever dreams; the sensual atmosphere is especially present on the 30 minute track “Tantra Mantra” featuring percussionist Byron Metcalf. This release of floating, hypnotic groove meditations sets the course on a new direction presented over the three interconnected “Fever releases” from 2004.

Review by Andy Garibaldi, CD Services (UK)
May 2004
New studio CD -- four really long tracks -- guest appearances from Patrick O'Hearn and Byron Metcalf -- production second to none. It's been heralded as having a "whole new feel" for the musician and, despite my fears for such a statement, you can actually see what they mean right from the opening track. "Wicked Dream" is an 18-minute piece that features Roach and O'Hearn, and consists of slowly roving electronic and synth textures, bass depth and layers, above a slowly rolling rhythm of resonant, ethnic, African-sounding drums and percussion. Hardly anything new there, you might think, but listen to the rhythms: they have what can only be described as a "groove" or a "swing" to them. The way the rhythms undulate and sway, flow and slowly drive, creating an atmosphere of warm and deep space that allies perfectly to the unfolding electronic textures that soar on top, is not only spellbinding, but somewhere between light and dark, a music that has appeal for both houses of the space music fraternity.

The 10-minute "Fever Pulse" is an apt title, as here the drum rhythms are more "stumbling" and the electronics more of an "edge", a feeling of restlessness running through the heart of the track, echoing a supremely apt title. But for all that, it's no less engaging, with some wonderful resonant (electronic?) bass work in the mix as well.

"Tantra Mantra" is nearly 30 minutes long, and here things relax to a more sedate manner, as the layers and atmospheres swirl and float over soaring textural electric guitar lines that ebb and flow, while the rhythms this time are composed of echoing and slowly driving ethnic drums and electro-percussive backdrops, again, slowly swirling round in the mix but still with that insistent feel that has you hooked. In tried and trusted fashion, the assorted, ongoing layers and textures, rhythms and depths, unfold, appear, disappear, return, while all the time maintaining this mesmerizing feel to the whole thing; totally spacey, totally cosmic but with rhythm, swing and emotive depth.

The 14-minute "Moved Beyond" continues the pattern set by the opening track, and just as stunning, as more resonant drum work combines with the layers and textures that rise above the rolling rhythmic base in remarkable fashion. As a piece of his entire work, I'd put this alongside TRANCE SPIRITS as the perfect antidote for all that mayhem, a chilled-out Steve Roach album for those that still want to hear drums in his music, as well as his now-legendary musical constructions and arrangements, the warm, yet dark and deep, feel present from start to finish.

As a pioneering cornerstone of progressive ambient-electronic music, internationally-renowned artist Steve Roach has dedicated five decades to exploring myriad soundworlds that connect with a timeless source of inspiration.

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