chromesthesia, by variant

chromesthesia

by variant

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Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of amongst the stars w/variant etherscape, satosphere sessions [transmission III] w/variant submersion + digital exclusive, suspended in a moment [someplace else] w/variant refocus, depths of perception : submerging waves [variant submersion], cosmic currents, lake of the clouds [live], vortexual [inception], plays sequential space, and 49 more. , and , .

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	1.	chromesthesia [prelude] 44:59
	2.	chromesthesia [postlude] 17:21

about

The last of variant's oneirology series, "Chromesthesia" is a near-hour long atmospheric track that comes to life through an array of color. The expansive piece consists of opaque, vibrant dreams created by multiple custom-made effects units & other hardware, such as the cosmic Eventide and TG77. Prismatic pixels of sound match this dynamic art in its entirety. In staying faithful to previous variant productions, this piece demonstrates the ever-evolving expansion of mystical experience. Kinetic energy meets luminescent colors for euphoric feeling. The encapsulation draws one into a vast "phase-space," to warm the heart for the coldest season ...

One of the most comforting things in the world is the music of Variant. Stephen Hitchell's sublime gaseous reductions of ambient techno are amongst the finest in the world. Like a sleepier take on the hissing, spectral aural atmospherics of his collaborative project CV313 with Rod Modell, this is the first occasion that this two-segment trip has been released to a wider audience. With a feather-light percussive depth charge guaranteeing this baby won't be bothering the neighbours, Hitchell smothers your mind with these delicious, morphing, shifting waves of Aether-bound beauty.

Another contemporary example of electronic music being truly psychedelic and transcendental without even trying. As a stress head, I find true musical meditation coming to calm my ass down in the compact disc form, here, in my hand and now on my Technics for the fourth time since last night. I may not even relieve myself of my dressing gown today. Somnolence-baiting spiritual dub for cosmic dreamers. 9/10 -Norman Records

Psychodeliczna feeria dźwiękowych kolorów – czyli jeden z najciekawszych eksperymentów z kręgu Echospace.

Trzecia część trylogii onirologicznej (czyli zajmującej się tematyką snów) w wykonaniu Stephena Hitchella pod szyldem Variant dedykowana jest zjawisku chromestezji, polegającemu na ewokowaniu kolorów przez słyszane dźwięki. Na album (tym razem to tylko jeden krążek) składają się dwie kompozycje tytułowe podzielone na części „Prelude” i „Postlude”.

Pierwszy utwór ma mocno psychodeliczny charakter. Zaczyna się, jak to często bywa w przypadku produkcji Echospace, od ziarnistego szumu – ale tym razem prowadzi on do kłębowiska skorodowanych strumieni syntezatorowego dźwięku o głęboko żałobnym tonie. Podkreśla to zaskakująca warstwa rytmiczna – marszowe bębny wrzucone w bardzo dalekie tło. Nie brak tu również nowych w estetyce Hitchella elementów noise’u – świdrujących wibracji prowadzących utwór do finału.

Drugie nagranie trwa niepomiernie krócej – i „Postlude” jawi się niczym finezyjna koda do rozbudowanego „Prelude”. Tym razem mamy do czynienia już z muzyką bardziej charakterystyczną dla projektu Variant. To wielobarwny ambient, rozpisany na mieniące się różnymi tonami kolorowe pasaże syntezatorów o chmurnym charakterze. I tu jednak nie brak rytmu – także wolnego i stłumionego, dobiegającego niczym zza ściany studia.

„Chromesthesia” to jeden z najciekawszych eksperymentów w dorobku Stephena Hitchella. Z jednej strony osadzony jest on w kontekście jego wcześniejszych realizacji pod szyldem Variant, a z drugiej – wybiegający na zupełnie nowe terytoria dźwiękowe, od analogowego noise’u po izolacjonistyczną psychodelię. Warto śledzić kolejne dokonania amerykańskiego artysty – kto wie gdzie zaprowadzą go dalsze eksperymenty?

-Nowamuzyka.pl

Stephen Hitchell, working under his Variant moniker, presents the third in a triptych of albums for dub techno label Echospace[Detroit]. As with the other two releases in the series, this is a blissful long player of uninterrupted ambient dub. Ethereal rhythms slowly emerge through a cloud of endlessly swirling static, with buried melodies periodically rising to the surface and lending the album the texture of a half-remembered fever dream. With this trilogy Hitchell has produced a set of unique and hypnotic records; deceptively simple yet viscerally compelling. -Bleep/Warp

Spaced Out Radio's top albums of 2014.
spacedoutradio.blogspot.com/2015/01/spaced-out-radio-favorite-albums-2014.html

credits

released January 1, 2015

w + p by stephen hitchell, mastered in echospace.

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about

variantsonics Ann Arbor, Michigan

Variant's recordings are frequently intended to "score the constellation of mystical events occurring in the depths of space."

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