The North Water
by Tim Hecker

From Mercury 09/19/2021 23:05 | #273972

(Cold, freezing really, ambient album. It's the great Tim Hecker doing Hecker things. While not approaching his 3 classics - the 3 I view as classics - its always great hearing from him.)

This album is a downer, man. Like, there are a lot of sad, depressing albums out there, but not too many of those that I've heard have managed to sink into me and subtly undermine my mood during their run time. Its impressive, really, just not what I usually am looking for in music.

I have no Idea what the story of this show that this is a score for is about, but based off the cover and the song titles and the sheer freezing frightening atmosphere of these pieces, I get the idea its about a ship lost at sea, stuck in freezing waters, while the crew slowly starves and loses body heat and hope and then finally dies. That is what is expressed to me with this music, even if I didn't know the names of songs or the cover, that would have been my guess. This is heavy HEAVY stuff.

The moments of beauty - beauty free of that harsh and unwavering desperation - are few and fleeting. Hecker is a master of this stuff, this electroacoustic, dreary, otherworldly stuff. The way he takes what I assume is a violin or maybe a whole symphony of instruments, and bends and warps and perverts them until they sound like some ghostly howl - well, its brilliant. HE'S brilliant and maybe my all time favorite ambient musician.

The sound here is pretty similar to Virgins, though this sounds bigger and less mesmerizing and perfect than Virgins. I'd give other comparisons than that kind of obvious one if I could but I am drawing a blank. Hecker has a sound and style all his own from what limited amount of ambient music I have heard. And, despite this not being on par with Harmony In Ultraviolet or Virgins or Ravedeath 1972, there is still enough Hecker genius on display to awe the average listener.

I don't have much else to say. I was feeling a hunger for Hecker and I listened to this a couple times and I quite liked it. Check it out if you're into this stuff. Me? Imma go take a walk and see if I can uplift myself a bit.