Intrusion

Stephen Hitchell's full-length debut under his Intrusion moniker literally picks up where his last full-length—Echospace's 2007 epic The Coldest Season, recorded with partner-in-crime Rod Modell—left off. The massive "Empyrean" that closed The Coldest Season with a floor-friendly journey into dub techno was the album's most overtly Jamaican-sounding and beat-laden track, and the Intrusion sound finds its roots within its blueprint.

If The Coldest Season's was an updated take on Basic Channel's glacial soundscapes, then The Seduction of Silence sees Hitchell bringing the more explicitly reggae-influenced sounds of Rhythm and Sound into the present—including two cuts (one a chilled dub mix of the other) with the honeyed vocals of Paul St. Hilaire (AKA Tikiman). The Caribbean lilt present throughout the album (last year's mighty "Tswana Dub" single, included here, and the two cuts with St. Hilaire being the standout examples) lends a unified air to the proceedings. Hitchell slowly but surely increases the pace and intensity of the tracks from the opener "Montego Bay" through to the shuddering, staggering "Intrusion Dub" before pulling back on the reins with the slinky, sexy "Seduction" and then alternates between the deadly intense and dead mellow on the album's back half before finally concluding with the sparkling ambient coda of "Under the Ocean."

Hitchell's solo work is far more rhythmically adventurous and danceable than most Echospace material. The delayed and doctored analog pulses (no sequencers here, thanks) are adorned with a smattering of congas and other percussion, as well as a standard deep bass drum stomp and Studio 1-inspired bass lines. Make no mistake—the album doesn't sound explicitly like King Tubby; it's more like his ghost is haunting your favorite Maurizio sides.

Beyond the phased and echoed chords and analog atmospherics, though, there is a palpable sense of spirituality present here that distinguishes The Seduction of Silence from most other dub techno, which has a tendency to be cold and metallic. There's a warm, celestial quality in the melodies here that looks skyward, and St. Hilaire's cuts provide the perfect bookends to the album; the dubbed-out "Angel Version" is track two, while the full vocal version "Little Angel" comes second to last. The lovestruck, inspirational lyrics and St. Hilaire's soothing tones go a long way toward lending a definitive voice to the album that travels beyond mere vocals into a deeper meaning that transcends the ten tracks.

Though individual highlights abound on The Seduction of Silence, the album works best when taken as a whole, an endorsement of Hitchell's vision for an expertly paced and executed album that raises the bar on the dub techno game to stratospheric levels. You'd be hard-pressed to find a better winter warmer than this; remember it with warm thoughts when winter returns later this year, when it's time for year-end polls. -Resident Advisor

Stephen Hitchell is one half of the massively influential Echospace project with DeepChord's Rod Modell. You all know that. If you don't you are probably dead or an infant child with no concept of the International dub techno mainframe. These Detroit boys have been carrying the torch for sleek, warm neon-lit ambient/dub techno for years, their gaseous, enveloping music cleansing the souls and minds of 1000's of devotees worldwide.

This is his solo masterpiece under the Intrusion banner. Yes. It's a total masterpiece. I don't use that word lightly. This fine thing came out years ago but is so highly regarded Echospace have bowed to public pressure and re-issued it in a cute double digipak with a whole slew of re-fits, re-mixes, re-shapes and re-revisions on the bonus disc from their various other ES umbrella projects. I'm not going to waffle on except to say if you really love the deepest, most spacious dub-inflected rhythms (see: the very cream of Rhythm & Sound/Basic Channel) and gently ricocheting electronica packed with spiritually enriching sonic detail then you'd be a right sad sack to pass up on this amazing package. Both discs are absolutely tremendous as is just about everything on the label.