An Imaginary Country

Maybe with the exception of Radio Amor, this is my favorite Tim Hecker CD. Teaches patience in listening, but if you can actualize or deepen this quality (with the help of Hecker's music), these sounds will become all the more interesting and evocative. Melodies that (I think) are there, and then am left wondering about seem to re-emerge later, but too late - there's another flow of sounds that I'm following. Like Brian Eno, but more active and intense. Very very good!!!

Love it. Have not stopped listening to them since I got them (my husband) :) His favorite music is "ambient" style. He was very happy to get it.

Really nice cd and gast shipping

Layers of sounds coming from nowhere and going nowhere. Rain, wind, the ocean, all produce sounds that go nowhere. however they are pleasant to listen to. This recording is not. some sections are less irritating than others but on the whole I just want it to stop. I can't imagine two people listening to this at the same time without one telling the other to "shut the damn thing off". Now I know what people with tinnitus feel like.

Released exactly a year ago, An Imaginary Country by Tim Hecker continues to satisfy my aural cravings. From persistent nonchalant two note passages dispersing in reverb, to pulsating bass undertones accented with frequency thick chromatic chords, and concrete layers of sonic treatment placed in all strategic places, designed to hold this fragile structure erect, the architectural plans behind this album are as solid as that of a monumental building, rising skywards past all of the clouds, remaining one of the attractions, long after its creator is gone. An Imaginary Country is the sixth full length album by this Canadian based musician and sound artist. His discography stretches back a decade (back in 2000, Hecker was recording under the alias Jetone), with numerous releases on Kranky, Room40, Mille Plateaux, Alien8, Staalplaat, Fat Cat, and Force Inc. Hecker is focused on "exploring the intersection of noise, dissonance and melody, fostering an approach to songcraft which is both physical and emotive." Performing at many international festivals (including Sónar and Mutek), creating sound installations and commissions for contemporary dance pieces, Hecker has sculpted a staple sound of provocative ambient, too intelligent to fall in the background. In a shadowy corner of the construction of this imaginary region, a distorted guitar attempts to break free of its chain-hold, only to be restrained with silenced and muffled with noise. The walls of this dwelling are thick and fuzzy, sometimes letting multiple tracks blend into each other seamlessly, until you arrive in a different place. "Borderland" rips through the constraints, like the shattered memory of a long loved melody, released in a solitary cell to bounce between the walls in a perpetual echo, crying on the final path of its demise. On "Utropics" a distant singing of haunting voices mesmerizes the mind until it is cut with another onslaught of wailing guitars and drifting mid-range saturations of "Paragon Point". From the label's press release we gather a few interesting notes: The title comes from a quote, "The imaginary country... one that cannot be found on a map," uttered by Debussy in regards to the sad state of musical affairs at the time, arguing that music was in dire need for alternate worlds of possibility. In some ways this is a utopian work, in the sense of the term meaning that of 'no-place'. All the tracks are landmarks in a dream cartography. Released on Chicago based Kranky, An Imaginary Country has already been hailed to critical acclaim, including a spot on Headphone Commute's Best of 2009 : Music For Bending Light And Stopping Time. Be sure to check out his previous release, Harmony In Ultraviolet (Kranky, 2006), as well as his collaboration with Aidan Baker, Fantasma Parastasie (Alien8, 2008). His 20-minute EP, Norberg (Room40, 2007) is also a worthy addition to anyone's collection. Recommended if you like Fennesz, Belong, Stars of The Lid, Loscil and Lawrence English.

Lush, yawning expansiveness has been a sort of sonic trademark of Hecker's. I was a fan of the dense dreaminess conjured up in his last, "Harmonies in Ultraviolet" and I think Hecker plays on the same themes here, on this meticulous follow-up, while slowly pushing himself slightly further down the slope. Fitting analogy there too, I think, cause icy meridians, quiet purple snowfalls, dark wintry nights, and colossal crunching glaciers are some of the unintended imagery on the record. Hecker creates soundscapes that somehow sound both quiet and cold. The music is meditative, melodic, lonely, surprisingly deep, and occasionally winsome. As a whole, the record is astoundingly affecting.I think the opening track "100 Years Ago" is unabashedly cloying, and bookended by the honking finale "200 Years Ago" an unfortunate misstep in an otherwise pristine creation. But as the album gently buzzes and rollicks into its stunner climax tracks--"Paragon Point" to "Her Black Horizon" to "Currents of Electrostasy"--one is truly transported. Eyes close, breath goes shallow, and one can only listen and feel.Electronic music in the current moment still seems to me to be a liquid, difficult genre to pinpoint, understand, and master. There are deft and different approaches: from the Icelandic mumblings of Mum to the static retro shoegaze of M83 to the underground and scratchy groove of high end dubstep acts like Burial. But Hecker seems to me a master of his game; he's the only one still standing in the gauzy shadows without a brand, without a gimmick. He's content to turn the knobs, and paint a picture. You're with him all the way. And in that there is innocence, and in that as well, at times, transcendence.

Sober and deliberate, Hecker's expansive, diffusive textures achieve a gorgeously dense "wall of sound" effect that devotees of Klaus Schulze will recognize at once.Hecker's drones produce a sense of perpetual harmonic instability within a musical environment that is both gargantuan and weightless. Highly evocative and impressive in its depth; a funeral pyre for an ancient sound.Followers of Marsen Jules, William Basinski and Robert Henke take note.

I fell in love of Tim Heckers Harmony in Ultraviolet. It was something I have been looking for yet I didn't even know I was looking for until I heard it. when I bought an imaginary country I assumed it was going to be the same. And it is but also so much more. It took a couple of listens but yeah it's there. Something more and familure. Borderlands is my favorite. Pure bliss. I wish I had the vocabulary to explain how much I love that song. If you liked Harmony in Ultraviolet then buy this album. You won't regret it. Highly recommend to ambiant music fan.