Contributing Writer
French techno producer and DJ Hayden F returns with Thoughts and Prayers, a five-track EP complemented by a powerful remix from Mexican techno veteran Fixon.
Released on his own Silencio Records label, the record traces a sharp line between punishing, fast-paced rhythms and hypnotic melodic passages that lend the whole release a sense of lift. It is tough, engrossing music, built for full immersion rather than surface-level impact.
The sound of the EP moves between hard, driving percussion and moments of unexpected clarity. Hayden threads in drifting pads, rising tones and small flashes of harmony that cut through the weight. The tracks feel tightly coiled but never static, shifting shape in ways that keep the tension alive while opening space for something more emotive to emerge.
Hayden F has spent more than a decade refining this approach. His productions and DJ sets come from a place of precise construction, shaped by a cinematic instinct where every element is a character and every track a self-contained world. The familiar dualities of his work anchor the EP. Somber depth against clarity, force against brightness, restraint against emotion. It is a balance he has carried through releases on Obscuur, Room Trax, TUTU, Vanity Dust, Off Recordings, Trapez and Trau-ma, and it is the quality that caught Richie Hawtin’s attention, leading him to play Hayden’s unreleased Urban Pressure across a long run of clubs and festivals.
Silencio Records gives the EP a fitting home. The label and its associated events have become a steady hub for underground techno, with artists such as Exos, Paula Cazenave, Marcel Dettmann, Julieta Kopp, Flug and Madwoman shaping its catalogue and its club identity. Silencio parties have welcomed a growing circle of international guests who share the same lean, shadowy aesthetic.