Built on a sturdy foundation of virtuosic guitarwork and instrumental heavy bliss, the journey for Rohan Stevenson, aka Ro and his project I Built The Sky has been one lined with immersive releases and resounding critical acclaim, from the project being declared "prog titans" by Guitar World Magazine to being described as one of the best albums of 2019 for the scintillating full-length The Zenith Rise.
It was back in 2019 that The Soundcheck first caught up with Stevenson about the goings-on for I Built The Sky At The Time, unknowingly right on the doorstep of the COVID-19 pandemic taking its choking grip worldwide and right before I Built The Sky's EP Coalesce, in conjunction with Jake Howsam Lowe (Plini, The Helix Nebula), and also just before Stevenson unknowingly embarked on one of his last tours for a long while alongside Monuments in Europe and the UK.
And while 2020 also saw a new track The Fire Inside, featuring guest vocalist Andy Cizek from Monuments, it's in 2022 that the most ambitious and jaw-dropping I Built The Sky chapter yet will fully take flight with an impending new album The Quiet Place - but on this new endeavour, things are not all what they seem.
Promising a reimagined take on an entirely acoustic album, The Quiet Place is acoustic done entirely I Built The Sky-style, traversing ten tracks that weld plenty of progressive brilliance alongside dazzling soundscapes, guest musicians and still plenty of familiar riffy goodness that fans have come to expect from Stevenson over the years. Also with a brand new single out today and the new album dropping this Friday, what better time to catch up with Rohan himself, and today he joins Tiana Speter on Season 2, Episode 2 of the Behind The Soundcheck podcast to chat bringing literal dreams to life, sonic exploration and where his love (and prodigy-like skill) for the guitar first began. Grab a listen below!
CATCH ROHAN ON EPISODE 2, SEASON 2 OF THE SOUNDCHECK'S PODCAST BEHIND THE SOUNDCHECK BELOW, ON SPOTIFY, APPLE PODCASTS OR VIA THE USUAL STREAMING SUSPECTS.
I BUILT THE SKY'S BRAND NEW ALBUM THE QUIET ONE IS OUT THIS FRIDAY 3 JUNE,
PRE-ORDERS ARE AVAILABLE FROM RIGHT NOW HERE
CONNECT WITH I BUILT THE SKY:
BY TIANA SPETER