Tim Hecker

Canadian musician Tim Hecker has earned broad critical recognition through his richly layered recordings that merge ambient textures, noise elements, and electro-acoustic techniques. Initially recognized for experimental techno and IDM productions issued under the Jetone alias, he adopted his own name beginning with the 2001 album Haunt Me, Haunt Me Do It Again, an evocative collection of glitch-laden sonic environments. He persisted in crafting intricate assemblages of sampled material and digitally generated noise while developing a reputation for live appearances that were frequently performed at high volume and in complete darkness. More thematically driven releases such as Harmony in Ultraviolet in 2006 and Ravedeath, 1972 in 2011 broadened his audience and strengthened his dedicated following, with further expansion occurring via partnerships alongside Aidan Baker and Daniel Lopatin. Traditional instrumentalists appeared on subsequent projects: Love Streams in 2016 incorporated an Icelandic choir, while Konoyo in 2018 was captured with a Japanese gagaku ensemble. Hecker supplied his first original score for the 2021 television series The North Water, and the atmospheric studio album No Highs emerged in 2023.

While pursuing graduate studies in digital acoustics and software, Hecker experimented with electronic music for several years prior to issuing his Jetone debut Autumnumonia on Pitchcadet in 2000. Force Inc. took notice of that recording and issued the follow-up Jetone album Ultramarin the next year. After that well-received effort he began working with the Montreal experimental imprint Alien8. He completed Haunt Me, Haunt Me Do It Again for Alien8’s Substractif subsidiary, and the album attracted considerable critical attention following its late-2001 release. Its success prompted Substractif to issue the Van Halen-themed EP My Love Is Rotten to the Core less than a year later in an attempt to sustain momentum. Hecker next recorded Radio Amor for Mille Plateaux, which brought the album out in April 2003.

Drawing from a 1996 trip through Central America that included a striking boat journey off the coast of Honduras, Radio Amor integrated the strongest qualities of his preceding two releases into his most approachable ambient statement up to that point and secured additional praise. Mirages appeared in 2004, succeeded by his 41-minute live radio performance for Staalplaat’s Mort aux Vaches series, issued in 2005. The following year saw the release of Harmony in Ultraviolet, his first album for Kranky. In 2007 Hecker issued the 20-minute CD single Norberg on Room40 and the 10" EP Atlas on Audraglint Recordings. The 2008 Alien8 album Fantasma Parastasie resulted from a collaboration with Aidan Baker of Nadja and was followed by the solo full-length An Imaginary Country on Kranky. The 7" single “Apondalifa” appeared on Room40 in 2010.

The solo album Ravedeath, 1972 arrived in 2011. Conceived around the theme of music’s destruction, the ambitious project included contributions from Ben Frost. It received widespread acclaim across numerous outlets and was frequently cited as Hecker’s strongest work to date. Later that year Dropped Pianos surfaced as a darker companion release. In 2012 he teamed with Daniel Lopatin of Oneohtrix Point Never for Instrumental Tourist, which presented jazz-inflected improvisations from both artists; the album inaugurated a series of collaborative releases on Software, the label Lopatin operated with Joel Ford.

Virgins, issued by Kranky in October 2013, represented a conscious shift toward live, improvisatory performance captured in Montreal, Reykjavik, and Seattle with a group of musicians performing on woodwinds, piano, and synthesizers. Hecker contributed “Amps, Drugs, Mellotron” to Adult Swim’s 2014 summer singles series. Room40 released the LP Norberg/Apondalifa in 2015, compiling the two earlier single releases. Love Streams marked his 4AD debut the following year and featured vocals from the Icelandic Choir Ensemble with arrangements by Jóhann Jóhannsson. His next album, the ninth overall and a return to Kranky, appeared in 2018. Konoyo drew inspiration from gagaku, the classical court music performed by the Imperial ensemble in Kyoto, and featured Tokyo Gakuso. The companion album Anoyo, drawn from the same sessions, followed in 2019.

Hecker’s stark, precisely constructed soundscapes proved well suited to the television adaptation of Ian McGuire’s Arctic novel The North Water. Lakeshore Records issued the score in 2021. His soundtrack for the science-fiction horror film Infinity Pool appeared in 2023. The post-minimalist album No Highs, which includes a contribution from saxophonist and fellow soundtrack composer Colin Stetson, was released the same year.