- Montreal's Devon Hansen has used a few names in his time. Persuasion replaces Stefan Jós, the alias under which his music took on dance floor shapes. The new project's debut EP, for Opal Tapes' vinyl wing, leads smoothly on from the 2015 Jós releases for Flau. It has the same twilit moods, the same woody percussion and the same teasing grooves, which use micro-detail to unsettle—rather than enhance—the flow. Hansen has streamlined this sound, where the tempo has snuck up into the 120s and the mixdowns have more air and depth. The reboot is particularly noticeable on the pacy "Damask Silk." If there was more boom to its kick drum and a bit more sizzle in the hi-end, it could be warehouse techno. Not that that's desirable; as it is the music hovers in a blurry between-space, soft but commanding.
That track is dark and withdrawn, its eerie synths suggesting a musique concrète influence. Elsewhere Hansen permits sentimentality in the form of glimmering chords that skulk in the music's shadows. The effect is most striking on "Xaviera," and the same technique is used with more restraint on "In The Atrium" and "Quatermass." The latter track might be the EP's weakest, thanks to slightly flatter drum programming and a mixdown that pumps uneasily with compression. This might prevent the track from speaking on a loud soundsystem, but it matches the mood—one of end-of-the-night redemption glimpsed but not yet grasped.
TracklistA1 In The Atrium
A2 Damask Silk
B1 Quatermass
B2 Xaviera