Virgins
Virgins was recorded during three periods in 2012, mostly in Reykjavik, Montreal and Seattle, using ensembles in live performance. The sound palette of this work is wider, almost 'percussive' and tighter sounding than previous works. While this album remains committed to a painterly form of musical abstraction, it is also a record of restrained composition recorded live primarily in intimate studio rooms. This record employs woodwinds, piano and synthesizers towards an effort at doing what digital music does not do naturally—making music that is out of time, out of tune and out of phase. This follow-up to his Juno-awarded Ravedeath, 1972 album exchanges gristled distortion and cavernous sound in favour of a close, airy, more defined palette. At times it points to the theological aspirations of early minimalist music. But it is not 'fake church music' for a secular age, rather something like an attempt at the sound of frankincense in slow-motion, or of a pulsing, flickering fluorescence in the grotto. Some pieces go off the rails before forming into anything, others eschew crescendo compositional structures or bombastic density while going sideways instead. It points to the ongoing development of Hecker's work. It suggests illusory memories of drug- hazed jams or communal music performance that may have never been performed or been heard. These are mp3s that give confusing accounts either of sound's glowing physicality or of its prismatic evasiveness. It is an offering of music into the void, a gift of digital filler between distractions. Yet hopefully it also stands as a document of the enduring faith in the narcotic, enigmatic function of music as long-form expression.
Tim Hecker's new album is more focused on performance than process, as most of it was recorded with a small group of orchestral musicians affiliated with the label Bedroom Community. Rather than having the music conjure a space, the space now shapes the music, and while Hecker’s music has always been eerie, it's never been this forceful.
Tim Hecker has quietly achieved cult status with his intensive studies in noise causality, in which he traces sonic paths from disturbing to enlightening. The Canadian artist’s work expects a lot from listeners, committing them to a beautiful world that marries electronic squalls with orchestral interludes. The dense…
One of experimental music’s foremost figures continues to encourage beauty to spring from the most unlikely of sources.
Over six previous albums, Tim Hecker's ever-evolving textural and sonic palettes have been rivaled only by his compositional one.
Tim Hecker’s choice of nomenclature for his songs can be incredibly misleading. On Virgins, his undeniably enigmatic but strikingly warm follow-up to the award-winning Ravedeath, 1972, titles like Stigmata I and Amps, Drugs, Harmonium nestle up to Stab Variation. Yet there is nary a Ministry cover nor violent aural assault in sight.
Any work from Tim Hecker released in the afterglow of career-defining 2011 release Ravedeath, 1972 is going to understandably find itself un...
Upon the release of 2011's Ravedeath, 1972, the plaudits extended to Tim Hecker seemed to know no end.
Album review: Tim Hecker, 'Virgins'. "Exultant and enigmatic but still abrasive in parts, ‘Virgins’ is a nebulous thing, but not without substance."