Tim Hecker - Harmony in Ultraviolet

artist:  Tim Hecker  
title:   Harmony in Ultraviolet
catalog #:  krank102
formats available:  CD   
CD UPC Code: 7 96441 81022 2
Release Date:  October 16, 2006

Content: Harmony in Ultraviolet is Tim Hecker’s sixth album. It is a continuation of Hecker’s interest in spectral communications, noise, impressionist musics, thresholds of listening pleasure/pain, and the limits of digital composition. This album is a significant development of his song-craft, challenging the usefulness of descriptors such as ambient, drone, metal, noise and even electronic music. If references are necessary it could be described as a sonata for the elements, songs of crackling embers, tidal pools, spruce skylines and autumn winds. Gerhard Richter’s abstract paintings are also a fair orientation. Materially speaking, it is a record of whirring drones, whispering fissures, dense disintegrating chords, late-night noise and truth-telling harmonics. Yet this record follows no overarching process, no underlying narrative. It is both a homage for the Italian partigiani and also not at all. It is songs about ghost writing and midnight whispers but then again it isn't. In many ways this album can be viewed as a work of total destruction, embracing indeterminacy as an aesthetic ideal.

Context: Tim Hecker is a Canadian-based musician and sound artist, born in Vancouver. Since 1996, he has produced a range of audio works for Mille Plateaux, Alien8, Force Inc, Staalplaat, and Fat Cat. His works have been described as “structured ambient”, “tectonic color plates” and “cathedral electronic music”.  More to the point, he has focused on exploring the intersection of noise, dissonance and melody, fostering an approach to songcraft which is both physical and emotive. The New York Times has described his work as “foreboding, abstract pieces in which static and sub-bass rumbles open up around slow moving notes and chords, like fissures in the earth waiting to swallow them whole”. His Radio Amor was recognized as a key recording of 2003 by Wire magazine. His work has also included commissions for contemporary dance, sound-art installations, and various writings. He is also an acclaimed producer of techno, having toured and produced under the name Jetone. Tim has presented his work in a live setting around the world, including performances at Sonar (Barcelona), Mutek (Montreal), Impakt Festival (Utrecht), Victoriaville in (Quebec), IDEAL (Nantes), Vancouver New Music Festival (Vancouver), and Transmediale (Berlin). He currently resides in Montreal.

Track Listing:
1. Rainbow Blood  2. Stags, Aircraft, Kings and Secretaries  3. Palimpsest I  4. Chimeras  
5. Dungeoneering  6. Palimpsest II  7. Spring Heeled Jack Flies Tonight  8. Harmony in Blue I  
9. Harmony in Blue II  10. Harmony in Blue III  11. Harmony in Blue IIII  12. Radio Spiricom  
13. Whitecaps of White Noise I  14. Whitecaps of White Noise II  15. Blood Rainbow

Selected Discography:
2005    Mort aux Vaches - Staalplaat (Holland) - Live recording at VPRO Studios, Amsterdam    
2004        Radio Marti / Radio Havana - EN/OF (Germany) Collaboration with Stan Douglas
        Mirages - Alien8 Recordings (Canada)        
2003        Radio Amor - Mille Plateaux (Germany)        
2002    Trade Winds, White Noise - Commissioned by Parachute Arts Journal (Canada)
    My Love is Rotten to the Core - Substractif / Alien8 Recordings (Canada).
2001    Haunt Me, Haunt Me, Do It Again - Substractif / Alien8 Recordings (Canada).
        Ultramarin - Force Inc Music Works / Mille Plateaux (Germany)


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