- A producer more known for galloping techno turns to ambient.
- Over the past few months, Roger Semsroth seems to have given his longtime Sleeparchive project a makeover. He's gone off on a tangent, dispensing with the tough, minimalist techno that's defined the alias while embracing styles rarely heard across his two decades' worth of musical output. Instead of the bruising, locomotive drums and mind-bending bleep sequences familiar to seasoned Sleeparchive fans, we've been treated to an intriguing range of mellow, reflective ambient music, delivered, most kindly, as a series of name-your-price digital releases.
2623, recorded at a hotel during a recent trip to Toronto (and named after his room number), sees the producer push even deeper into this sound. "01," woven from a few murmured synth lines, is Sleeparchive at its softest, while the melancholy "02" wanders through spacious, slowly evolving melodies. "03," in a particularly uncommon move for Sleeparchive, utilizes vibrant, sustained piano progressions with a whiff of classical styling. "04"'s strands of spectral sounds conjure a darker vibe that neatly sets up the last track, "05." The curtains are opened again and sunlight floods in with a plinky melody that's at once uplifting and oblique. Whether or not it signals a new phase for Sleeparchive, 2623 is yet another fine ambient work by Semsroth.
Tracklist01. 01
02. 02
03. 03
04. 04
05. 05