Dreamtime Return

Dreamtime Return (1988) is a double album, based on Australian Aboriginal culture and the concept of the Dreamtime, by the American ambient musician Steve Roach. Roach had already begun composing this album when by chance he received a letter from writer/photographer David Stahl. Stahl had heard Steve Roach’s third album, Structures from Silence, on the radio while driving through the desert towards Mexico. He informed Steve Roach of his current documentary film project Art of the Dreamtime. Several months later Roach and Stahl traveled to Northern Australia to visit that region's ancient Aboriginal sites.

Overview

This album is Steve Roach’s first true tribal album, as well as being the first of his many double album projects. The music consists of slow haunting electronic textures, sometimes featuring various ethnic percussion instruments and traditional Aboriginal chants and voices. The track “Truth in Passing” features atmospheric piano work rare in Steve Roach’s music.