Though the perception of time is a subjective experience, one commonality discovered by researchers is that humans tend to think of time like space, thus navigating it using metaphors involving things like movement and location. It’s this physical sense of time that informs Steve Roach’s Bloom Ascension. Utilizing analog synths and sequence-driven rhythm and sound, Roach maps past, present, and future throughout the four tracks. There is a juxtaposition of movement and suspension: the sequences act as anchors, allowing the more ambient elements to expand and contract. The opening track, “The Beauty Relentless,” is kinetic, sometimes skittering, but still connected to something fluid as patterns allow it to float, drift, and circle back again. “The Motivating Factor” is a slow push into space that finds urgency as though aware of time passing. “Synesthete” nods to its very definition of blending senses and perceptual crossover with its myriad connections and shifts in textures. The closing track, “Bloom Ascension," spreads out as though alive and living.

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