Human Music: Live Improvisations I serves as both a statement and a philosophy. What I hear is a collection of live performance recordings, each about 6-7 minutes long, one player/performer using layers and loop technology to play many instruments at once in a live setting, creating classical flavored music improvisations and instrumental expressions with haunting vocals that are entirely without word content, just emotional tones that bend and transmit.
Emotional responses that define genuine human expression
Jessica Roch brings her insightful studio mixing skills to these improvised multi-instrumental tours de force, drawn from performances captured between 2022 and 2025 in concert halls, intimate venues, and assembly rooms across England. Human Music: Live Improvisations I is a document of spontaneity, vulnerability, and presence that was written, recorded, produced, arranged, and mixed, as well as performed live by Jessica Roch on violin, synth, vocals, pianos, vibraphone, many pedals and (many) electronics. In this six track anthology the audiences are breathless, each piece unfolds in real time, free from predetermined outcomes, embracing the subtle imperfections, fleeting decisions, and emotional responses that define genuine human expression. She also created the cover art, an eye-catching expression of photographic compositing and imagery, with the album’s physical graphic design and layout by zakè.
Human Music serves as both a statement and a philosophy. What I hear is a collection of live performance recordings, each about 6-7 minutes long, one player/performer using layers and loop technology to play many instruments at once in a live setting, creating classical flavored music improvisations and instrumental expressions with haunting vocals that are entirely without word content, just emotional tones that bend and transmit. Human Music, to me, describes how the focus is on truth and insight. There is risk taking, being honest and thorough, as well as staying nimble. These performances were each invented on the fly. These recordings are not polished constructions assembled from endless revisions, but living moments captured as they happened, shaped by the atmosphere of the room, the energy of the audience, and the artist’s instinct in the moment. There is never any AI present here.
Living moments captured as they happened ::
In an era increasingly shaped by automation and algorithmic creation, Human Music celebrates the irreplaceable qualities of live performance: intuition, risk, connection, and the profound beauty found in uncertainty. “London Live Session, Oct. ’25” opens with a piano, which communicates empathy and intuition, never any urgency, just easy relaxing floating on the infinite sea, eased by repeating ethereal voices that haunt like a night-drawn candle would. At “Threadsafe, King’s Cross, Dec. ’24” there are flutes flying about all over the place, flickering and fluttering, followed by a robust violin session. We float around nicely for part of eternity while the heavenly vocal choir echoes somewhere above, and soon the cathedral is filled with so many voices, legions coming back together as one. The program at “St. John on Bethnal Green, Oct. ’24” starts with vocals and that big cathedral sound, in time a choir builds and soon the hot violin arrives and weaves around the choir refrains. The feeling is satisfying and peaceful, with a feeling of intimate intricacy.
“A masterpiece of depth and warmth, wrapped in strange beauty surely evoked by classical wandering spirits.” ~Robin B. James
“Liquid Light Session One, Oct. ’22” starts off when the pianos interact, a violin is plucked delicately and very subtly, within and without. The vibraphone grooves in, sly and lean, forming a nice multilayered atmosphere of instruments and vocal presence. Later, at “Liquid Light Session Two, Oct. ’22” it feels like water is reflecting multicolored light, flickering and exploding as shadows silently signal a response. The violin somehow changes the feeling, and ghosts are musically gesturing in the background. For the final track, “Howard Assembly Room, Leeds, Jun. ’24” we start from plucked violin strings, layering behind a bright bowed story teller, leading into some fancy violin playing. This comes after as well as during the vocal moments, adding many serious details. Some are a little dark, perhaps slightly sad. Of course there are no words, the voices that join in next have a teasing warble, and the rare elvish fairies nearly yodel. Soon the violin becomes the main thing, finishing with a warm synth-orchestra memory invoking assemblage.
Water is reflecting multicolored light, flickering and exploding ::
Jessica Roch is a London based, award winning composer, multi instrumentalist, sound designer, and improviser. In 2025, she received a Composer Spotlight Award at the Production Music Awards. She has recently performed at Cafe OTO and is a co-founder and director of The London Ambient Orchestra. Her solo work moves fluidly across genres, weaving ambient and electronic textures with elements of minimalism, jazz, folk, and experimental music. A classically trained violinist and pianist, Jessica creates music for film, games, and contemporary media, while also collaborating as a session musician with artists including Super Furry Animals.
Jessica‘s composition Pandemonium: Music for Parakeets, was created as part of a cross disciplinary artistic collaboration, and was featured at The Design Museum as part of the Artificial exhibition, where it was on display throughout the summer season. Recently speaking about her debut album on Past Inside the Present, Jessica clarifies her intention. “This album is an unambiguous protest and rejection of AI-generated “music.” Human Music: Live Improvisations I, is imperfect, it is raw and it is unpredictable. That is the beauty of live improvisation. It is innately human.”
“This album is an unambiguous protest and rejection of AI-generated “music.” Human Music: Live Improvisations I, is imperfect, it is raw and it is unpredictable. That is the beauty of live improvisation. It is innately human.” ~Jessica Roch
Beautifully curated from an extensive collection of live performances, the album was mixed by Jessica herself and mastered with remarkable sensitivity by James Bernard at Ambient Mountain House. Together they preserve the immediacy and emotional depth of each performance while allowing every nuance, resonance, and breath of the room to remain intact. The result is a deeply personal body of work that stands as both an artistic statement and a testament to the enduring power of human creativity. Human Music: Live Improvisations I was shrinkwrapped, pressed, manufactured, and assembled in Ontario, Canada, with an edition of 200, glass-mastered, silkscreen printed CDs housed in a 4-panel, 300g satin cardstock Digipak with a clear cd tray. Human Music: Live Improvisations I is a masterpiece of depth and warmth, wrapped in strange beauty surely evoked by classical wandering spirits.
Human Music: Live Improvisations I is available on Past Inside the Present. [Bandcamp]
