Tim Hecker - Virgins

Tim Hecker - Virgins

You´re in a dark place. All your senses seem deprived, malfunctioning and don´t serve as an indication of time, space or anything close to reality. Then there is light. Not of the bright and enthralling  type as one might imagine in a transition from death to the afterlife, more like a glimpse of something that doesn´t intend to be crushing you –
With this metaphor the transition from Tim Hecker´s “Ravedeath 1972” to his newest effort Virgins seems to be described best. 

As many listeners might have first heard Hecker through his 2011 album, there is no doubt that with every release, he furthers his lane of innovative instrumental – any other tag such as ambient seems to be failing for me – music. His Ravedeath is best described as nocturnal, maybe even depressing music. And this doesn´t necessarily mean synonymous with sad and downbeat, but rather refraining from every color, black and grey in tone and putting the listener through a set of emotions best described as desolate. One can´t really say that Hecker made a much “upbeat” record with Virgins (who´d want that anyway) but that he added a crucial color to the compositions reminiscent of Ravedeath and his Dropped Pianos – the color white. And with this addition the listener is welcomed into a very different experience of soundscapes, ideas and tones.

Already the introductory track “Prism” seems to glisten and give of a kind of warmth with its processed organs and what sounds like many layers of synths piercing through it. After this, what even in length could be described as the radiant parallel to 2011 “The Piano Drop”, on “Virgins I” the listener isn´t thrown into any thick layer of sound but wanders through hammered keys with the textures of noise slowly taking the forefront again, just to drop out and repeatedly overpower the organic keys. Whilst following “Radiance” feels like the drony intermission that signifies the defeat of what felt like instruments being played without any processing, “Live Room I” leads back to the hammered keys – now clearly used as a kind of motif – played higher and more delicately this time around

Here one could come to the conclusion that Virgins seems to be the invert of Ravedeath: As the latter was a highly textured amalgamation of sounds that was here and then graced with the sound of keys, on Virgins the keys more or less take the forefront and the heckerean` static grandiose while still be very much present, is toned down; not trying to crush the listener but reeling him in with a certain warmth that almost gives of a churchly feel. And still, with the following pieces Virgins II and the sum of all “Black Refraction”, the sound never tires out or becomes what might be associated as being ethereal. There is still very much urgency and substance to the compositions of the tracks. This might be the church music of the post-everything era, but very much so it doesn´t seem to rest on itself or implications of anything to be searched after, the crystallized textures and fine keys seem to be a hand out for active contemplation and a sense of beauty any other contemporary adhering to the more general ideas of music will never reach. 

The interlude “Incense at Abu Ghraib” seems to be the introduction to a very stretchy closing sequence in a way. Sticking with the sensation of a mass procession and the burning of incense, what was crafted over the first half of the album now critters and crumbles away leaving many warm traces and hints of its original components. The duo of Stigmata I + II tears away the bright washes of sound into the previously heard sensations of Harmonium eschewing any crisp tones entirely. “Stab Variations” closes the circle of light started in “Prism” and seems like the slow disappearance of what was in comparison screaming in your face earlier. 

After the rising passage of light and clearing of perception - the movement from black into sudden white, the experience yet again ends in a kind of greyish embrace of sound. And right here one might find a spot of tedium in the album. With the finish of Black Refraction, there doesn´t seem to be much more left to experience and the high rise ends in a lengthy outro with many stages. But still this fits the arc of this record and you´ll definitely not feel the urge to end the experience any sooner then Hecker intended you to – you might just not remember your way out of the church as much as the procession you were graced to witness. Tim Hecker once again has created a unique experience without any kind of repetitions. The more organic approach pays off very well and one can definitely leave Virgins feeling lighter while still being overwhelmed by the sheer beauty Hecker can create while eschewing harmony and somewhat challenging the listening experience known to man.

Best Track: Live Room 

9 / 10