Calliope Music Rapid Reviews
Tim Hecker - No Highs
Prolific Ambient Composer, Tim Hecker Sulks in a Desolate Ocean of Gray Electroacoustic Misery.
Minimalist electronic productions circulate with modular synths, cold violin and trill saxophone. Pulsing kick drums pitter patter as wavey electronics soar through each track, amassing a 51 minute unit of layered existentialism.
Macroscale reverb results in an echo chamber of sound, highlighting the scarcity of positivity in a depressed mind. The monotony of doom is only broken with brief moments of action, whether it be daring synth beats or fretty sax solos.
The shorter songs offer glimpses into thoughts of despair with weary woodwind and soft beeps, subtle in nature, but profound in context. The longer tracks dive deep into the machinations of illness, building tension with repeated clicks and wistful synths. This is most effective on the track, 'Anxiety,' where high pitch synth picks persistently under malformed coral reefs of panoramic ambiance.
Tim Hecker displays a commanding force over electronic subtlety on No Highs, but often does this delicacy bend away from the distinctness of Hecker's dreary sound, and toward the invariability of drowning darkness. Even with these moments of musical monotony, Hecker's 15th studio LP still sustains a primarily captivating sunless energy of morose ambiance.
Best Tracks: Total Garbage -- Lotus Light -- Monotony II -- Pulse Depression -- Anxiety
6.5/10
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