It is easy to grasp the concept that Suspended Memories is one of the greatest e-music trios ever. Each member - Steve Roach, Jorge Reyes, and Suso Saiz - had a brilliant solo career before forging ahead as a trio. Earth Island, the group's second CD, explores the concept of this planet as an island in the sea called the galaxy. The composition titles make references to the dawn of man and hide isolation and desolation. The music is deep, inspirational, and distant. Roach, Reyes, and Saiz bring their own spiritualities to the table along with their own sound worlds. When they emerge, they emerge as one. This disc is an amalgamation of three distinct entities that intertwine and interact seamlessly. They do not just bring out the best in each other; they bring the totality of each other. The dark atmospheres are full of ethnic spirituality and cultural richness. There are no holes. This is a great CD from a trio of great artists.

The music rises up from the darkness and howls at the moon. An ancient voice chants in serpentine ecstacy, only to subside and hover next to silence. In those moments when the sound dissolves beyond recognition, the subconscious leaks through, whispering of faded visions painted on stone, of memories suspended by the passage of time, of gods long forgotten. This is the world where Steve Roach, Jorge Reyes and Suso Saiz create their music. There are no scores, no plans, in the initial stages of composition. Like jazz artists who extemporize freely through a shared musical language, the members of Suspended Memories connect on an intuitive level of pure sound. But it isn't jazz they're playing. Roach, Reyes, and Saiz practice a form of collective improvisation from another time, another place, maybe one that never really existed before, except in the shrouded landscapes of a shaman's dream.