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Steve Roach & SoRIAH — Curandero
(Projekt no#, 2025, DL)

Steve Roach & Erik Wøllo — The Road Eternal
(Timeroom Editions No #, 2011/2025, CD / DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2025-11-24

Curandero Cover artThe Road Eternal Cover art

Steve Roach has a catalog that is quite extensive, approaching 300 full-length releases as I write this, and through the years many of his most memorable albums have been collaborations with other musicians travelling similar paths: VidnaObmana, Radiant Mind, Kevin Braheny, Michael Shrieve, Robert Rich, Michael Stearns, Roger King, Stephen Kent, Vir Unis, Jorge Reyes, Byron Metcalf, Mark Seelig, Robert Logan, Kelly David, Serena Gabriel, Sam Rosenthal, Peter Grenadier, Miles Richmond, Elmar Schulte, and many many more. These collaborations are important because they tend to pull Roach out of his comfort zone and make him a contributor to something entirely new and somewhat unexpected, sometimes to new places he’s never been previously. It’s a mere coincidence, I suppose, that two of these collaborations showed up on my desk at about the same time, one new and the other a reissue, but it  gives listeners a chance to explore these outer boundaries of Roach’s work, and perhaps get to know the work of the collaborating artists as well.

As far as I’m aware, Curandero is Roach’s first collaboration with Soriah, and the six tracks herein move into the deep ritualistic and tribal territory where Roach has been many times before, though this time it goes far beyond previous sorties, into what might be called shamanic ritual music. Soriah (real name: Enrique Ugalde) brings the specialties of Khöömei (Tuvan throat singing) blended with whispered vocals, Indonesian bamboo flute, gongs, shaman drums, Tuvan drums, Aztec death whistle, plus synthesizers, to the collaboration, while Roach brings his various analog and digital synthesizers, sequencers, electronic and acoustic percussion and prehispanic flutes. Immersive? Yes. Engaging? You bet. Soriah splits his time between the Tuvan republic (part of Russia, just north of Mongolia) and a home base in Portland, Oregon, which is where the parts for Curandero were recorded, while Roach recorded his parts from The Timehouse in Baja Arizona. Each of the six cuts herein takes a different path, and a listener will find plenty of variation throughout all the pieces. The stunning twelve-minute “Shadow Current” is like a swirling cauldron of psychedelic strangeness that picks the listener up on one end of a portal and leaves them on the other, after one amazing journey. The opener “Analog Cave” features all of the tribal sounds, hand drums, whispered voices and throat singing that one might expect, while the synthesizers and electronics permeate the background. At just seven minutes, “Steppe Traveler” may be one of the shorter tracks on the album, but it’s an engaging one, as a carpet of busy percussives are rolled out for the electronics and voices to build upon, while “Stars of Darkness” is quite the opposite, flowing gently forward with gongs and synths while the throat singing fades in and out of the background. Closer “Shard Tribe” flows in gently with a variety of mysterious percussion that slowly engulfs the listener, all amid electronics and throat singing, morphing constantly as it goes, until it all begins settling down as it approaches its thirteen minute conclusion. Curandero is a unique and unusual set that merits a close listen for all who want to travel beyond the usual fare.

The Road Eternal, featuring Roach and Norwegian guitarist, multi-instrumentalist and composer Erik Wøllo, was originally released back in 2011, the second of two collaborations, the earlier being 2009’s Stream of Thought — though this writer never heard it until now, so it’s like a new release to these ears. Here Roach contributes the sounds of his Eurorack modular synth, plus various analog and digital synthesizers, loops, sequencers, drum machines, and synth bass, while Wøllo brings processed electric guitars and guitar synthesizers plus analog and digital based keyboard synths. Of the six tracks presented here, four are nine minutes or longer – much longer in the case of the opening title track, which clocks in at over  21 minutes — that’s certainly one that a listener can get lost within. Most of these cuts feature a cadence or rhythm of some type, whether synth based or percussive, along with powerful and complex synth-driven textures over which Wøllo paints his colorful soaring and heavily effected guitar creations, though each track presents this in a different way. “The Next Place” offers a feeling of rapid movement due to the churning loops just below the surface, while “Travel by Moonlight” presents something of a far more floating ambient feel, though a churning bass loop and percussion pace the proceedings, while Wøllo’s guitar chords float in and out of focus, sometimes doubling over one another like an ambient chorus. The closing track, “Night Strands,” floats in like a dream and eschews most of the rhythmic content, though some subtle arrythmic percussion elements can be heard just below the surface, otherwise it’s pure floating bliss. The Road Eternal is nothing short of excellent, and if you missed it the first time around, now it’s available again.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases, 2011 recordings

Related artist(s): Steve Roach, Soriah, Erik Wøllo

More info
http://steveroach.bandcamp.com/album/the-road-eternal
http://projektrecords.bandcamp.com/album/curandero

 

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