Steve Roden – Stars of Ice

I’ve never quite heard anything like this before. Stars of Ice is a strange and haunting ambient sound collage album which perfectly blends into each other across its different movements. While simple, the music is dense and layered, with its quiet drones and soft sound play in the background sounding about as icy as a cold shower in sub zero weather (that’s pretty bloody cold). After Roden has established this main drone line, he slowly introduces and layers multiple repeating male and female vocal lines on top of each other. The amalgamation of these brief, reversed vocal passages creates an especially haunting yet beautiful effect, sounding like you’re running through a hall of mirrors, reflecting back at you memories both new and old. While these drones and vocals eventually give way, the piece transitions into a more tangible section with lightly plucked banjo or guitar (I think) and some sort of an instrument that is being bowed continuously becoming louder and softer in the mix for the rest of the album. This then gives way to more vocals on top of the chaos, which almost brings a sense of comfort and even the slightest bit of melody. While I’d describe this music as having the effect of creeping under your skin, it is also incredibly calming in sort of an indescribable way. Through the very creepy (and what some might call a little horror-esque vocals) is extreme beauty, bringing strong nostalgia for a memory I may never have had. While at points I think it could’ve done with a bit more variation, it’s the most interesting and impactful ambient album I’ve heard in a while, and something I’ll be coming back to quite a bit (especially in Winter because it definitely hits different).