How to describe Tim Hecker's music?The first track I ever heard from him was "Sundown6093" off Ghostly International's Idol Tryouts Two. One listen and I was hooked: waves of noise and distortion coalescing into a haunting soundtrack for a distant future. The fact that it's still my favorite track from the entire Idol Tryouts series should say something.
Harmony in Ultraviolet, the title of Hecker's amazing 2006 collection, offers offers fifteen compositions using a wide variety of sounds – sometimes melodic and/or rhythmic and sometimes neither – all in service of this unique aesthetic.
"Whitecaps Of White Noise" a two-part piece found on the disc, is perfect example of the results. There are conventional instruments here, briefly taking their turns at the monolithic chord progression that makes up the melody line, but their presence takes a distant back seat to the otherworldly waves of distortion that permeate the piece and give it its weight.
Hecker, like Kevin Shields at the height of his powers, is interested in the sounds between the notes as much if not more so than the melody itself. He also understands the transcendence of repetition, and at times his music approaches the fugue state that composers such as Philip Glass or Steve Reich know so well. Yet as a whole, Harmony In Ultraviolet feels like an ambient music experience more than anything else. There's incredible, peaceful beauty to be found everywhere on this disc if only you're willing to listen for it.
Noise that reveals beauty – that's Tim Hecker.
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