Four years after his eloquent Japanese diptych (Konoyo And Anoyo), Tim Hecker returns the knife between the teeth with No Highs, a work presented in opposition to “the deluge of commercial and falsely positive ambient music currently in vogue”. It is true that the pandemic has accelerated the return of a comfortable and harmonious vision of the ambient, in front of which the maximalist and often noisy compositions of the ex-Montrealer have stood for a long time. This observation also allows him to wipe the slate clean and explore new timbres and textures: oust! the granular synths and the imposing pads of the great organs. The musician rather favors diaphanous synthesizers and minimalist rhythmic punctures that turn when Colin Stetson’s fleshy saxophone begins to rumble. As if Hecker had taken the opposite view of the brilliant Promises (2021) by Floating Points and Pharoah Sanders in an oppressive and taciturn version and titles such as Monotony, Total Garbage, Anxiety And Sense Suppression.
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