https://echospacedetroit.bandcamp.com/album/chromesthesia Label & DOR: echospce [detroit] - 01/01/2015 Format: CD limited edition & digital, 2 tracks Syles: Ambient/Dub Techno Playlist: 00:00. chromesthesia [prelude] 45:04. chromesthesia [postlude] Credits: Written and produced by Stephen Hitchell Mastered in echospace Notes: 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