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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Straddling the divide between to best of ambient and classical minimalism, listening to Tim Hecker's music is a visceral, physical experience. Great slabs of electronically-generated sound rub up against one another, repeating simple motifs and drones, creating chilling, glacial harmony. Dark, invigorating and hypnotic, the listener is transfixed by the simple genius of Hecker and his bleak electronic soundscapes - this prodigiously gifted composer is the missing link between (early) Brian Eno and the godlike genius of Philip Glass, and is himself a force to be reckoned with, the leader in his field, his music trascending genre and easy categorisation. A must for Hecker fans, and the perfect intro to his sonically-charged world, listen and be awed.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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7 reviews
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
For a gently glittering snowglobe, wherever I may find you...
12 Mar 2009
Format:Audio CD
Lush, yawning expansiveness has been a sort of sonic trademark of Hecker's. I was a fan of the dense dreaminess conjured up in his last, "Harmonies in Ultraviolet" and I think Hecker plays on the same themes here, on this meticulous follow-up, while slowly pushing himself slightly further down the slope. Fitting analogy there too, I think, cause icy meridians, quiet purple snowfalls, dark wintry nights, and colossal crunching glaciers are some of the unintended imagery on the record. Hecker creates soundscapes that somehow sound both quiet and cold. The music is meditative, melodic, lonely, surprisingly deep, and occasionally winsome. As a whole, the record is astoundingly affecting.
I think the opening track "100 Years Ago" is unabashedly cloying, and bookended by the honking finale "200 Years Ago" an unfortunate misstep in an otherwise pristine creation. But as the album gently buzzes and rollicks into its stunner climax tracks--"Paragon Point" to "Her Black Horizon" to "Currents of Electrostasy"--one is truly transported. Eyes close, breath goes shallow, and one can only listen and feel.
Electronic music in the current moment still seems to me to be a liquid, difficult genre to pinpoint, understand, and master. There are deft and different approaches: from the Icelandic mumblings of Mum to the static retro shoegaze of M83 to the underground and scratchy groove of high end dubstep acts like Burial. But Hecker seems to me a master of his game; he's the only one still standing in the gauzy shadows without a brand, without a gimmick. He's content to turn the knobs, and paint a picture. You're with him all the way. And in that there is innocence, and in that as well, at times, transcendence.
I think the opening track "100 Years Ago" is unabashedly cloying, and bookended by the honking finale "200 Years Ago" an unfortunate misstep in an otherwise pristine creation. But as the album gently buzzes and rollicks into its stunner climax tracks--"Paragon Point" to "Her Black Horizon" to "Currents of Electrostasy"--one is truly transported. Eyes close, breath goes shallow, and one can only listen and feel.
Electronic music in the current moment still seems to me to be a liquid, difficult genre to pinpoint, understand, and master. There are deft and different approaches: from the Icelandic mumblings of Mum to the static retro shoegaze of M83 to the underground and scratchy groove of high end dubstep acts like Burial. But Hecker seems to me a master of his game; he's the only one still standing in the gauzy shadows without a brand, without a gimmick. He's content to turn the knobs, and paint a picture. You're with him all the way. And in that there is innocence, and in that as well, at times, transcendence.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Gargantuan
13 July 2009
Format:Audio CD
Sober and deliberate, Hecker's expansive, diffusive textures achieve a gorgeously dense "wall of sound" effect that devotees of Klaus Schulze will recognize at once.
Hecker's drones produce a sense of perpetual harmonic instability within a musical environment that is both gargantuan and weightless. Highly evocative and impressive in its depth; a funeral pyre for an ancient sound.
Followers of Marsen Jules, William Basinski and Robert Henke take note.
Hecker's drones produce a sense of perpetual harmonic instability within a musical environment that is both gargantuan and weightless. Highly evocative and impressive in its depth; a funeral pyre for an ancient sound.
Followers of Marsen Jules, William Basinski and Robert Henke take note.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Headphone Commute Review
29 May 2010
Released exactly a year ago, An Imaginary Country by Tim Hecker continues to satisfy my aural cravings. From persistent nonchalant two note passages dispersing in reverb, to pulsating bass undertones accented with frequency thick chromatic chords, and concrete layers of sonic treatment placed in all strategic places, designed to hold this fragile structure erect, the architectural plans behind this album are as solid as that of a monumental building, rising skywards past all of the clouds, remaining one of the attractions, long after its creator is gone. An Imaginary Country is the sixth full length album by this Canadian based musician and sound artist. His discography stretches back a decade (back in 2000, Hecker was recording under the alias Jetone), with numerous releases on Kranky, Room40, Mille Plateaux, Alien8, Staalplaat, Fat Cat, and Force Inc. Hecker is focused on "exploring the intersection of noise, dissonance and melody, fostering an approach to songcraft which is both physical and emotive." Performing at many international festivals (including Sónar and Mutek), creating sound installations and commissions for contemporary dance pieces, Hecker has sculpted a staple sound of provocative ambient, too intelligent to fall in the background. In a shadowy corner of the construction of this imaginary region, a distorted guitar attempts to break free of its chain-hold, only to be restrained with silenced and muffled with noise. The walls of this dwelling are thick and fuzzy, sometimes letting multiple tracks blend into each other seamlessly, until you arrive in a different place. "Borderland" rips through the constraints, like the shattered memory of a long loved melody, released in a solitary cell to bounce between the walls in a perpetual echo, crying on the final path of its demise. On "Utropics" a distant singing of haunting voices mesmerizes the mind until it is cut with another onslaught of wailing guitars and drifting mid-range saturations of "Paragon Point". From the label's press release we gather a few interesting notes: The title comes from a quote, "The imaginary country... one that cannot be found on a map," uttered by Debussy in regards to the sad state of musical affairs at the time, arguing that music was in dire need for alternate worlds of possibility. In some ways this is a utopian work, in the sense of the term meaning that of 'no-place'. All the tracks are landmarks in a dream cartography. Released on Chicago based Kranky, An Imaginary Country has already been hailed to critical acclaim, including a spot on Headphone Commute's Best of 2009 : Music For Bending Light And Stopping Time. Be sure to check out his previous release, Harmony In Ultraviolet (Kranky, 2006), as well as his collaboration with Aidan Baker, Fantasma Parastasie (Alien8, 2008). His 20-minute EP, Norberg (Room40, 2007) is also a worthy addition to anyone's collection. Recommended if you like Fennesz, Belong, Stars of The Lid, Loscil and Lawrence English.
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