by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

This is effectively a collection of big and small screen offcuts, written over the last half decade. They have been selected and sequenced by Tim Hecker into a short LP.

The compositions were originally written for scoring projects including Infinity Pool, The North Water, Luzifer, and La Tour.

What’s the music like?

This is an intriguing collection from Hecker, whose work is never less than descriptive. In his company we move easily between electronic and acoustic music, the running order set by the mood.

The slow-moving Heaven Will Come is cold and eerie, oddly majestic but fragile at the same time as it slowly takes shape, its slowly descending motif compromised by glitches at the bass end. Monotone 3 is distinctly unnerving, with quarter tones that spread unease.

Morning is more restful, led by an easy piano figure, while Icesynth is also more consonant in its language. Sars Requiem feels transported in from a much earlier period in musical history.

Joyride Alternate is the most immediate track, warm and consoling as its keyboards inhale and exhale, a natural complement to the following Sunset Key Melt and its airy panorama of the end of the day.

Does it all work?

While understandably fragmented, Shards is a successful grouping of disparate pieces.

Is it recommended?

While not necessarily the right starting place for a full appreciation of Tim Hecker’s craft, this is certainly recommended for those familiar with his work. The vivid evocations of place create lasting and memorable pictures in the mind’s eye.

For fans of… Lawrence English, Stars Of The Lid, Fennesz, William Basinski

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Published post no.2,457 – Wednesday 26 February 2025

by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

There is a note of defiance with this new album from Tim Hecker, the Canadian’s eleventh studio long player. It is in effect an anti-record, positioned against what is described as ‘false positive corporate ambient’.

It is meant to be unsettling, a reaction against comfort and calm, and, as the press release calls it, a ‘jagged anti-relaxant for our medicated age, rough-hewn and undefined.’

The No Highs title is borne out by the artwork, and its unremitting shades of grey.

What’s the music like?

Oddly, and perhaps inevitably, there is deep ambience in the musical content of Tim Hecker’s work, but it is pitched in a way that means it is never too comfortable or settled.

As No Highs proceeds, it is a compelling listen, as Hecker has carefully shaded his work in response to the subject matter. There is certainly an unnerving tone to the long-breathed electronic sighs of Monotony, though an ideal contrast to this can be found on tracks like Winter Cop, which adds warmer tones, and even Monotony II, where the saxophone of Colin Stetson comes into its own. He plays a beautiful soliloquy that builds rather like a murmuration, turning this way and that against the spacious backdrop.

Sometimes Hecker’s approach is contrary, the result being that a track like Anxiety is actually quite calming in its own drawn-out way. Meanwhile the extended Lotus Light, which flickers intermittently at the start, pulses with activity once it gets going.

Does it all work?

It does. Although darkly shaded, Hecker’s music has an authority that is rare to music of this tempo and instrumentation.

Is it recommended?

It is. This is indeed a sound musical riposte to the ambient ‘muzak’ that can be found in a lot of areas currently

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