Echospace US

Review: When it comes to immersive listening experiences built on cutting-edge sound design, few can match the continued brilliance of Echospace duo Rod Modell and Stephen Hitchell. For proof, check the pair's latest offering under the alternative CV313 alias. Built around a suite of three drawn-out soundscapes, Analogue Oceans sees them mimicking the ebb and flow of oceanic tides by smothering gentle dub techno rhythms in lapping waves and soft-focus, spacey electronics. On disc two, Hitchell goes solo to present his own, hour-long interpretation under the Variant guise, heading into the pitch-black depths via watery effects, clandestine aural textures and suitably horizontal ambient dub rhythms.

Review: With Rod Modell putting the finishing touches to his next Deepchord album (due for release later in the year on Soma), Echospace partner Stephen Hitchell took the opportunity to record a new solo set of his own under the lesser-known Intrusion alias. "Amongst The Stars", a beguiling, 21-minute chunk of soft-focus dub techno smothered in spacey analogue electronics and the distant sound of traffic, is taken from that forthcoming album. Here, Hitchell's fine "Extended Dub" comes accompanied by a trio of varied but typically atmospheric translations from CV313 (AKA Hitchell and Modell), of which the astonishingly deep "Distintegration Dub" is probably our pick. On the second CD, Hitchell dons his ambient alias, Variant, and delivers an absorbing, CD-length "re-shape" that's as entrancing as it is quietly picturesque.