Five years after the death of music orchestrated by “Ravedeath, 1972” and three years after the torture of music sculpted by “Virgins”, the Montreal-based ambient/electronic composer is back, this time newly experimenting with vocals. Hecker’s move from Kranky to 4AD is evident in the textural composition and mood of the album—it’s less subdued and more earth-shattering. He collaborated with the Icelandic Choir Ensemble and explored novel ways in which digitally-altered woodwinds, synths, keyboards, and guitars could corrupt and reveal startling glimpses of humanity. The soundtrack for a post-rave digital apocalypse.

RIYL Ben Frost, Arca, Oneohtrix, Villages
Favorites: 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11
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1. (4:56) Obsidian Counterpoint—Arpeggiated synths and chopped woodwinds that get progressively louder a minute in. Minimal beat builds at 2:30. Very Ravedeath from 3:30 until the end.
2. (4:08) Music of the Air—Disconnected bits of vocals blend in with electronic chaos layered over a constant ambient drone. Entropic. Becomes more subdued in last minute. Sounds like the precursor to “Castrati Stack”.
3. (2:17) *Bijie Dream—Ultra-cool shorter transitional track. Jarring and unexpected in a good way. Metallic, processed and disfigured guitars over Hecker’s trademark ambience.
4. (2:57) Live Leak Instrumental—First minute is beautiful noise that sounds like Jefre Cantu-Ledesma. Silvery synth melody and heavy, Ravedeath-type ambience. Occasional forms of percussion interrupt the constant synths. The singularity is nearing.
5. (4:58) *****Violet Monumental I—Frenetic voices and a constant, repetitive ambient pattern + a darkly thudding beat. Becomes more classically liturgical, Tim Hecker style, in the last minute, with crescendoing organs and a melancholic piano cut. Very different from his previous work. Like Ben Frost at the most experimental we’ve seen him yet. Nicely transitions into the next track; play both consecutively and bliss out.
6. (3:13) ***Violet Monumental II—Kind of a headbanger at the start. Repetitive, whistling synth line and what sounds like a heavy, threatening monster descending upon humanity.
7. (2:41) Up Red Bull Creek—Calm ambient wash with very faint tensions brimming beneath the surface. Tensions pick up at 1:40 with warped, direct, hauntingly arboreal synths.
8. (4:01) **Castrati Stack—Track that features most prominently the distorted, pitch-shifted chants of the Icelandic Choir Ensemble. A dizzying interplay between analog and digital elements, all fighting in a sea of cavernous ambient drones.
9. (3:15) ***Voice Crack—Glitchy OPN-esque sounds and a pensive synth melody. Dreamy effected vocals enter in halfway through. Like a hyper-digital Julianna Barwick.
10. (4:13) Collapse Sonata—Pounding beat and multiple urgent instrumental lines. Fragmented woodwinds.
11. (6:16) *****Black Phase—Haunting, churning ambience at start. Plaintive choral harmonies paired with what could be the distinctive drones of Sunn O))) and the restlessness of Ben Frost. This one’s for you, noise fans.