Horizontal Excursions - Higher States (2016)

A journey into nature is a healing experience, and one that can be married to your own personal health and mentality. At its most symbolic, Roger Martinez’s new album as Horizontal Excursions, not only refers to the mountains, but the higher states of mind through which he channeled to make the music. Whether you find calm and peace through nature, its sounds and presence, or through your own personal journeys, Higher States was built as your accomplice.

Through Roger’s own experiences, and by transmitting these higher states of mind through music, "the music then becomes a medicine to bring people together, or to put people more in touch with their emotions”. Not content with the present day spoken language and modern culture that surrounds us, Roger believes music is the missing element - “music and the emotional language it conveys is much stronger at bringing people together, communicating states of oneness, peace, love and unity, that could ultimately contribute to a more loving, peaceful humanity”.

As Roger’s fifth release under the Horizontal Excursions moniker, Higher States is an evolution from his previous releases; the self-titled album of 2011, and the long-players of ‘Symphonica Helvetica’ and ‘Enantiodromia’. Atmospheric and organic, Higher States ascends through the many mental and physical layers one would experience when climbing towards fulfillment. Be it the low, swirling mist on ‘Opening Up, the relief and optimism of ‘Balance’ or the distant detail and memories in ‘The Gift’. From lush, warm pads to the sound of the sea, hundreds of feet beneath you, Higher States combines detailed soundscapes with a consistent current of depth, creating a vivid journey - an instrument designed where “higher states of intelligence emotion may flow, eventually towards the hearts of other people”.