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Steve Roach — La Rosa - Live in Tucson
(Projekt Projekt 438, 2026, 2CD / DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2026-06-08

La Rosa - Live in Tucson Cover art

La Rosa was originally built as a Benedictine Monestery nearly a hundred years ago, but was converted into a state-of-the-art live music and events venue in 2025, envisioned as a new cultural anchor for the Tucson area. For the last decade or so Steve Roach has been giving concerts at large cathedrals across the United States, and this concert at La Rosa, which occurred on December 6, 2025, could be considered a culmination of all these concert appearances — two hours of music featuring new pieces alongside classics — longtime fans of Roach’s music will find plenty herein to stir the soul and elevate the being; sacred music from sacred spaces if you will. The recordings are presented precisely as they occurred, without any post-production overdubs or edits, across two discs. The set opens with a piece titled “Spirals of Yearning,” which seems to fit nicely with several of his earlier ‘Spirals...’ pieces, blending powerful sonic eruptions with delicate sequences and dreamy colorful ambient washes, well over half an hour of sound that a listener can easily get lost within. The first disc is rounded out by the hauntingly beautiful “Born of Darkness,” featuring some interesting wind sounds (a fujara, or six-foot overtone flute) and gentle tribal percussion as it proceeds, and “Desert Solitide” emerging out of a storm, a piece that seems to have its origins somewhere in the late 80s. It should be noted that all of the pieces on each disc are crossfaded, performed that way in real time, so one may not notice the change from one cut to the next, and for those who download the album, gapless recordings of both discs are provided. Disc two opens in Dreamtime Return territory, evidenced by the presence of didgeridoo; tracks like “The Continent,” “Magnificent Gallery,” and “Songlines” are all there, often paired with complimentary pieces that enrich their impact, followed by a couple of more recent vintage, “Bliss Current” and “This Moment of Today.” Disc two closes with a new version of “Structures from Silence” originally from the 1984 album of the same name; it’s a piece that Roach has done live in many versions, yet it’s one that I’ll never get tired of hearing. All taken, La Rosa is an amazing live recording that surely represents Steve Roach performing many of his best works.

Filed under: New releases, 2026 releases

Related artist(s): Steve Roach

 

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