Tim Hecker
Biography
Born in Vancouver and now based in Montreal, Tim Hecker has been releasing abstract, shifting soundscapes since 1996 on a range of labels including Mille Plateaux, Alien8, Force Inc, Staalplaat, and Fatcat. The diverse sources he has employed to release his records indicate the diversity of his output which, while always retaining certain core elements - a foundation of electronics, resistance to narrow, simple structuring, and a transient, ephemeral quality - has explored a broad spectrum within the field of ambient electronica. Hecker’s early works were characterised by a sense of ominousness and foreboding, as walls of static emerge to swallow slowly progressing washes of chords; simulataneously entrancing and darkly unsettling, records like Radio Amor (one of The Wire’s top records of 2003) explored new territory in ambient music and established Hecker as one of the foremost electronica artists working today. Tim has also produced commissions for contemporary dance and sound-art installations, and earned acclaim as a techno producer under the name Jetone.
Tim’s latest release, Harmony In Ultraviolet, is his first record on Kranky and a welcome addition to the stable; a continuation of Hecker’s interest in spectral communications, ambient noise, impressionism and the limits of digital composition, the album is perhaps his most accomplished work to date. Merging from crumbling towers of noise and feedback to gently throbbing bursts of colour, the record is an epic, dreamlike journey that further pushes the boundaries of abstract music, challenging the very definitions of genres such as ‘electronica’ and ‘ambient’, and providing an enthralling ride for the listener in the process. Tim will continue to seek out new modes of expression, and his faith in the unexplored possibilities of the field within which he works make him an artist perfectly in touch with Kranky’s ethos.
