Roman Angelos - Music For Underwater Supermarkets (2022)

From the sonic invocation of “Foghorns" through to the finale, "The Underwater Supermarket”, the new album from Roman Angelos paints a sonic dreamscape where the mundane act of grocery shopping meets the future. “Music for Underwater Supermarkets” continues and extends Roman's obsession with the library and soundtrack music of the past. This time, he fuses that aesthetic with childhood memories of being pushed around in shopping carts and visiting strip malls. Vibraphones chime alongside woodwinds and vintage synthesizers, creating an immersive sound that feels exotic and smooth.

Lead track “Swimming Through The Aisles” is a snaking composition in 7/4 that propels the listener through water like a diver looking for signs of life in the deep. A dark combination of “Kind of Blue” and 50s exotica, this mysterious tune is reminiscent of modular jazz with some wriggling synths sprinkled on top.

The finale of the record, “The Underwater Supermarket” combines pulsating ambient synth pads with Bossa Nova beats and wistful melodies. Designed to put a smile on your face, the track evokes childhood memories of supermarket trips tingled with a certain murkiness that keep those recollections just out of reach.

In addition to the longer tracks, Music For Underwater Supermarkets also contains a number of short ambient pieces that serve as connective music between feature songs. One such song, ‘The Aimless Aquanaut,’ with its bubbling arpeggiated synths, sitting sonically somewhere between the scores of Stranger Things and Blade Runner, pushes the listener into an aquatic meditation

Roman Angelos is the project of Brooklyn producer Rich Bennett; it was developed as a vehicle for Rich to explore his obsession with library recordings of the 60's and 70s, muzak and exotica. Beyond the world of library electronica, Rich has been involved in a diverse group of musical projects, including the newly reunited outsider/60s proto-punk group The Shaggs and Brazilian funk group Limoncello.

2020’s debut for Happy Robots ‘Spacetronic Lunchbox’ was a burst of sonic nostalgia that boasted 11 songs in 10 minutes. It gained praise from Freq, The Electricity Club and The Haunted Generation, in the printed magazines Electronic Sound and Shindig! and received radio play from Bob Fisher (BBC Tees) and BBC6 Music from Cerys Matthews and Stuart Maconie’s Freak Zone.