"The Setting Sun is expansive in scope yet intimate in presentation; both ominous and calming as natural sounds merge with the synthetic."
When you think of the expansive discography of Detroit’s legendary Echospace, space and the ocean are frequent reference points. The feeling of an infinite blackness, with distant worlds spinning millions of miles apart from one another, is an appropriate mood when experiencing the universe curated by co-founders Stephen Hitchell and Rod Modell.
Under water, vast swaths of unexplored trenches exist in the world alongside us, revealing clues to the origins of life on earth and connections to ancient, primordial creatures. Using sound to mimic natural and extraterrestrial worlds, which have existed long before us and will continue on long after we’re gone, is one of the many ways in which the label’s output is so powerful.
They’ve set themselves apart as masters of dub techno, as releases from cv313 and Deepchord provide heady, beat driven works that can burn up a late night club gig. You don’t have to dig much deeper to find that the label’s long form ambient releases also stand as the exemplar of experimental electronica. You could put them on in the chillout room and let it serve as background music, but the tracks that expand beyond the sixty minute mark work best for solitary listening that expands your mind and conjures deep cosmic dust spread across the sky. The immersive experience is what gives the label’s output its staying power. You can put on many of their longer releases and initially think, “I probably won’t get around to three hours of this. I’ll just listen to half of a track”. Before you know it, the entirety of an album has washed over you and you’re eagerly awaiting more.
Stephen Hitchell explores varied facets of ambient dub soundsystem experiments under the aliases Intrusion, Soultek, and Variant, among others. His compositions as Variant are like gateways to a realm where the physical form vanishes and your consciousness is left to slowly drift into the gorgeous synthesis of reverb heavy keyboard tones and field recordings.
The project debuted in 2009 with ‘The Setting Sun’, a CD-only release lovingly given the vinyl treatment by Field Records. Delicately blending synths, samplers, and field recordings of Berlin storms and Narita, Japan train rides, ‘The Setting Sun’ is expansive in scope yet intimate in presentation; both ominous and calming as natural sounds merge with the synthetic.
Tracks like “Enchanted” and “A Silent Storm” demonstrate Variant’s utility of minimal elements to create massive, majestic soundscapes. The previously mentioned field recordings of Berlin thunderstorms mix with drifting synths extended and pitched to resemble an iceberg’s slow cracks resonating miles underwater. Stretching over 15 minutes, “Enchanted” is a stark, beautiful track that’s minimally composed and deeply engrossing and complex when you take it all in. “A Silent Storm” similarly flows at a glacial pace, emanating ruminative pulses diverging across time and space.
“Someplace Else” offers a slowed down dub techno sound that feels like coming in from the storm, with a hauntingly calming mix of light beats and dubby keys spreading across the stereo. The album closing “Adrift” brings back the environmental audio, allowing the sounds of rain to be manipulated to the point where you might mistake it for static born out of digital production.
As humans, we look at the world through our own lens, and can be put off kilter when we realise there are things larger than ourselves. The interplay of field recordings with synth notes stretched and dubbed out into infinity allows ‘The Setting Sun’ to give a sense of place while reminding us of the tremendous forces at play in our world and beyond. A storm can supply peaceful background sounds when you’re safe at home, but when caught outside you are witness to nature’s immense power. That is the genius of Variant’s production aesthetic, and with this gorgeous album back on our stereos you can re-visit a remarkable introduction to one of Hitchell’s best projects.
‘The Setting Sun’ reissue is scheduled for release on 27th March via Field Records. Buy a vinyl copy from Inverted Audio Record Store and digital from Bandcamp.
TRACKLIST
A1. As Time Stood Still
A2. Enchanted
B1. Upon A Dream
B2. A Silent Storm
C1. Someplace Else
D1. Adrift