Deepchord Presents Echospace – Liumin

No one is quite sure what time it is. The sun went down several hours ago and everyone threw their blackberries into the sea yesterday – it was a collective act of rebellion against the ever bleeping timekeeper’s digital wrath that nobody regrets. The sand is still warm underfoot and the stars seem to shine brighter as every second passes. The wind shifts direction, carrying on it sub-bass sounds from the balcony of an all-night party. The last bastions of stress begin to ebb away. This is paradise.

Deepchord Presents Echospace is the collaborative project of Rod Modell and Steve Hitchell, two veteran producers based in Chicago and Detroit. It is their combined vision, that with headphones firmly attached and eyes pressed shut, can paint images such as the ones detailed above.

Liumin is their second album – a genuinely exciting ambient recording – reminiscent of The Orb at their playful best, circa 1994. It doesn’t just provide an incredible soundtrack, but also positions itself within an atmospheric virtual space that feels alive and real. In places it’s positively dreamlike, built from field recordings of the greatest nights you’ve ever had. Sounds bleed together, the electronic intertwines with the organic, voices of strangers chatter in your ear, everyone loves you tonight.

It’s almost unfair to classify this as a record; this is closer to an experience. This is an opportunity to disengage from reality for eighty minutes. To remind and reconnect yourself with who you really are.

As the final track draws to a close there is a sense of sadness that you have to leave this perfect space. It would be heartbreaking if you didn’t know that you could return to Liumin at any time, safe in the knowledge that everything will be just as you left it.

Too long have ambient artists been treading water, this is an album that takes risks and pushes the genre into new territory with incredible results.