Virgins

Ambient/noise experimentalist composer Tim Hecker is back after the phenomenal "Ravedeath 1972". This is not traditional ambient music though, as it's stacked with piano, woodwinds, and other live instruments. It's almost closer to modern classical or post-rock. A tremendous and tense listen of wonderfully sculpted sound. Favorites: 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 12. No FCCs.

Similar artists/releases: The Haxan Cloak "Excavation", Oneohtrix Point Never "R Plus Seven", Steve Reich, Julia Holter, These New Puritans "Field of Reeds"

1. (2:54) ** Ambient, tense. Wailing synthesizer with a flurry of almost psychedelic textures interspersed. Awesome opener.
2. (6:17) *** Very piano heavy with intricate revolving patterns. Fades in and out. Noisy undercurrents and some of the same swirling textures from track 1.
3. (3:23) Majestic ambient interlude
4. (7:02) *** Noisy and tremendous. Percussive piano, synthesizer, and woodwinds with what sounds like Hecker tearing the fabric of the universe. Fuck yeah.
5. (2:37) - Delicate ambient outro
6. (5:24) *** Similar to track 2. Captivating layered piano
7. (3:34) * Simple, beautiful piano with a hazy backdrop
8. (1:54) Short, fraught, ambient synthesizer piece, segues into track 9
9. (3:03) * Ambient, woodwinds and synths intermingle
10. (2:18) * Noisy, piano. Introduces deep bass beats for the first time in the album
11. A quieter cousin to track 10
12. (6:31) ** Transitions between blasts of noise in a 4/4 pulse and some of the spacey, luminous textures from track 1. Ends in a lush ambient fog.

Reviewed by Muscat