Intrusion - The Seduction of Silence

INTRUSION - THE SEDUCTION OF SILENCE (Echospace Detroit)

The proliferation of dub techno in the last 2 or 3 years has been something of an anathema to me, causing me to rethink the genre’s value. Without wanting to dismiss Stephen Hitchell’s debut album before I’ve even reviewed it, there has been a flooding of the market by the likes of Echocord, Quantec, BvDub and countless others mesmerised by the pioneering sounds of Mark Ernestus and Moritz Von Oswald. It’s been over 13 years since Basic Channel released a record if you don’t count remixes; Rhythm and Sound are no longer active, and the Chain Reaction label is no more. So why do we get a plethora of records that don’t build upon what they did, and instead retread ground already explored? You’ll have to forgive me for that mini-rant, but a friend once advised that he’d got rid of all his dub techno records because he’d got all the Basic Channel singles, and as such didn’t need any others. It was a statement that seemed a little ludicrous at the time, but upon reflection made a lot of sense.

Hitchell’s Intrusion project started last year with a debut 12” on Echospace, and this LP builds upon that. We’re already on well trodden ground with the addition of rent-a-dub techno vocialist Paul St Hilaire (I’m being harsh here, as he is quite clearly a special talent) for a couple of tracks, but after an inauspicious start with “Montego Bay”, the album flowers magnificently with the sunshine glory of the track “Angel Version”, St Hilaire inflecting proceedings with a beautiful tone. It’s uplifting, and the plangent tones avoid the sort of abstract ambiguity that dub techno producers seem to love dwelling in. The epic “Intrusion Dub” slowly builds into something approaching a dub firestorm, Hitchell allowing authentic dub sounds to flow freely with the sort of static atmosphere that one might expect from the likes of Tim Hecker. Things take a rather predictable turn with the tracks “Reflection” and “Twilight”, and whilst “Little Angel” brings back St Hilaire into the frame, it fails to match the heights of the early part of the album. Hitchell finishes proceedings with the atmospheric “Under the Ocean”.

There are moments on “The Seduction of Silence” that hint at a bright future for Hitchell’s Intrusion project, but these were undone by lapses into dub techno familiarity that I felt brought down this album significantly. The presence of St Hilaire certainly brightens proceedings, but his ubiquity amongst the major producers in the genre only serves to show that it needs a shot in the arm to revive itself.

Toby Frith