Early Man

First released in 2000 as a single disc and then rereleased in 2001 with a ‘decomposed’ bonus disc reworking the material on the original release, Early Man is one of Steve Roach’s most involving and fascinating efforts, a sonic portrayal of, indeed, prehistoric humanity, with all the suggestive mystery that still implies. The song titles alone like “Walking Upright” and “Mastodon” do part of the heavy lifting but the blend of instrumentation throughout results in an engaging sense of being wordlessly immersed in a natural world at once familiar and deeply strange.