Roberto Sánchez’s A-Lone Ark Muzik Studio shows no signs of slowing down in 2025, as proven by this trio of near-simultaneous releases, together forming a musical trilogy.
By Jah Rebel
Following their 2018 collaboration ‘Jah Live’, Sanchez reunites with Jamaican roots veteran Clive Matthews for ‘Going Home’. Matthews, who grew up in Jones Town and Trench Town, began his musical journey at age sixteen with the recording of ‘My Girl Has Gone’ for Clinton ‘Percival’ Williams’ Percival label, followed by ‘Apology’ and ‘Live Not For Vanity’, also under Percival’s production. Now, alongside earlier tracks like the repatriation anthem ‘Going Home’ (originally ‘Am I Going Home’) and ‘Only Jah Is Able’, Matthews revisits ‘Live Not For Vanity’ for a new take featured on this release. In the 1980s, Matthews worked with Derrick Barnett (Sagittarius Band), Trevor Roper (Chalice), and Norman Vassell (Mighty Titans Band), resulting in successful tracks like a rootsy version of Gladys Knight’s ‘Hero’ and the lovers tune ‘Lover Man’, which gained traction in Canada. After a period of relative silence, Matthews reemerged in 2016 through a collaboration with Sanchez and Shanti Yalah, marking the beginning of a new creative chapter. Like its predecessor, ‘Going Home’ plays like an unearthed gem from reggae’s golden era.
The riddims for Going Home were created in close collaboration with Basque producer and multi-instrumentalist Javier ‘Bass Lee’ Arkotxa, known for his earlier Message releases on the A-Lone Productions label. At the same time, Bass Lee also drops ‘Roots’, a fully instrumental with Bass Lee’s melodica taking centre stage.
Bass Lee: “With this album I am proposing a musical journey to our roots and foundation. Roots reggae provides the appropriate depth and evocative atmosphere to make this journey, but for inspiration I have steered away from Jamaica to search out our first steps as human beings in Africa. There we can find the roots and development of that which makes us human: the use of fire and other technologies, the enlightenment related to human reasoning and the acquisition of language, artistic expression, the human need for sociability and mutual aid, and other fundamental characteristics that can be found in every single community around the world. In fact, in spite of our cultural habits, national borders, skin color or the language we speak, we all have the same origins! In the end we are all just one people, one heart and one culture.”
And it doesn’t end there…. Sanchez himself returned to the original riddims to craft ‘Psalms In Dub Vol. 1’, running the raw session tapes through a vintage 1979 MCI mixing console and layering spring reverb and tape-delay effects to achieve that warm, analogue sound reminiscent of 1970s dub.
Roberto Sanchez: “I love dub music from the bottom of my heart. Dub is King’s music! Dub is musicians rehearsing their instruments hard to express themselves through music. Dub is digging deep into yourself. Dub is travelling through analogue textures. Dub is feeling the universal emotions created by chords, harmony and rhythm. Dub is listening with your eyes closed. Dub is reels and smoke. Dub is an ancient drum. Dub is a heartical bass. Dub is vital. Dub is ital. Dub is nature. Dub is truth. Dub is timeless. Dub sounds like the psalms I learnt as a kid. Dub is the soundtrack of the psalms. This is ‘Psalms In Dub Vol. 1’!”
What more is there left to say?
Founder alongside Jah Shakespear who transitioned to this role in late 2014. Previously worked as critic and reporter, balancing passions for music and Haile Selassie spirituality.
June 9, 2025