Tim Hecker – Harmony In Ultraviolet (Kranky/Inertia)

Canadian Tim Hecker (not to be confused with Mego’s Florian Hecker) was responsible for one of the best albums to come out of the final years of the seminal Mille Plateaux label – Radio Amor in 2003. Hecker’s sound is that of decaying electronic ambience and guitar drone, merging the bleak distortion and fuzz of fellow Canadians Godspeed You Black Emperor with the open tonal ambient expanses of artists like Biosphere. The latest album Harmony In Ultraviolet continues the development of this sound and it is loud. Stags, Aircraft, Kings and Secretaries, Spring Heeled Jack Flies Tonight, and Radio Spiricom roar with distortion but without rhythmic backing or drums they hang heavy in the air like haze. This serves to make more prominent the album’s quieter moments – the four parts of Harmony In Blue and the epic Whitecaps of White Noise through which a subtle piano melody emerges. Best listened to at full volume Tim Hecker’s sound is a storm, a riot, and a lullaby. Lovely.