About

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.

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. — (via Resident Advisor)

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Echospace [Detroit] and new sub-label Intrusion’s releases can have a tendency to appear somewhat esoteric. The sheer number of remixes, reworks, remixes of remixes etc often leaves one wondering exactly what’s what anymore and just how little material has actually been produced by Steve Hitchell. How much mileage there is left in continual reworks of the same tracks, however different those reworks may appear.

The Seduction of Silence is likely to shut the mouths of anyone who doubted that there is still fertile ground and previously unreleased material to produce an album that works as complete listening experience. It may compile a number of tracks from previous 12″ singles that have been around for a while now, but it sets those tracks down in a new context, a new environment, one that can be enjoyed over an almost full 80 minutes. Not since The Coldest Season has there been such a fully realized and complete Hitchell/Modell release as this, and it is good to hear epics like “Tswana Dub” in this new context.

The Seduction of Silence is a first for the Echospace [Detroit] label: a fully fledged album of new/existing material as a continuous, long-form listening experience, the previous two CD releases on the label being remix compilations. What you get is precisely what you would expect from an Echospace [Detroit] release and thus it comes highly recommended, but be quick –this release is disappearing fast! — (via Igloo Mag)

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2LP in blue vinyl

Written and produced by Steven Hitchell
Engineered, mixed and mastered in Echospace
Vocal performance by Paul St. Hilaire courtesy of False Tuned, (BCP) Basic Channel Publishing
Remastered and cut at Stardelta Mastering, UK

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Label: echospace [detroit]
Format: 2 x Vinyl, 12", 33 ⅓ RPM, Remastered, Blue
Reissued: 2025 / Original: 2009
Genre: Electronic
Style: Dub Techno, Ambient

File under: Electronic // House / Electro / Techno
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