Tim Hecker – presents Radio Amor

After one full-length album, and one EP, Tim Hecker is back again with a new album, this time on the highly aclaimed Mille Plateaux label. After his debut “Haunt me, haunt me, do it again”, a stunning drone-like record, he released his Ep “My love is rotten to the core”. An EP that seems to be entirely based on old Van Halen guitar samples(or Apollo 440, for those of you who think who the hell is Van Halen?) With “Radio Amor” Hecker once again takes a central theme and uses that throughout the whole cd. This time it’s a small piano piece that is being cut up, streched, reworked etc. during the cd. Like “Haunt me Haunt me do it again”, all the songs blend together into one big piece, and the cd works best like that. The drone structures are present all the time. Dreamy, meandering, digital bliss made out of all sorts of hissing radio broadcasts. It feels as if you are on a deserted island with only a small radio left that is running out of batteries, and is barely able to pick up any signal.

Like “Haunt me Haunt me do it again”, this cd should be heard as one piece, it works best then. But a few parts should be mentioned. There are a few tracks that use guitars, like “(they call me) jimmy” and “Azure Azure”. Two tracks that start with a a guitar that seems to have bene played through one very old amp, hissing and cracking. It brings back memories of some older Postrock releases, like the first Godspeed you black emperor release. “Azure Azure” ends in a perfect guitar drone, slowly fading away to make place for the final piece “trade winds, white heat” Then there is “I’m transmitting tonight” A songs that starts out with stuttering piano, wich is repeated through the whole song, while at the same time some dark drones float through the music. Stunning to hear how Tim Hecker creates minimal melodies with his cutting and pasting of samples.

Once again Tim Hecker shows his talents in sample manipulation and composition. A stunning release, that comes highly recommended.

artist: Tim Hecker
label: Mille Plateaux
details: [MP119CD]