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Tim Hecker is a Canadian electronic music composer. Renowned for works such as Radio Amor, Harmony in Ultraviolet, Ravedeath 1972, and Virgins, he currently boasts one of the most enviable discographies in today's music scene. Hecker can indeed be defined as an innovator, a faithful ally of musical technology and progress. While not strictly an avant-garde composer, his experiments are never self-serving and generate music that denotes unparalleled artistic sensitivity. For this reason, in my opinion, it is appropriate to elevate him to such a title.
Electronic music is most likely the music of the future. Rock 'n' roll will never die, it's true, and a lover of the Rolling Stones or Sonic Youth will always say that; it will always be loved and played. Jazz has now been fused with almost every musical genre, giving itself various new nuances. Pop will probably remain, for who knows how many years, the music that can communicate most directly with the masses. And I could go on forever, because almost any genre played with classical instruments will probably never 'die' if understood in the sense of being listened to and appreciated. The point is that many genres may have already given everything, and radically innovating them is, in my opinion, one of the most difficult things in the world today. Of course, innovating does not always correspond to the word 'better' or 'superior,' but the search for new musical forms is undoubtedly fascinating. I close this parenthesis by saying that I love many musical genres and that it is not about belittling any in particular.
Electronic music, however, was born with the very premise of evolving parallel to the development of new technologies, capable of creating sounds never heard before. It has always done so, since the first experiments dating back to the beginning of the last century. Purely electronic sounds have been used for many years now in almost every genre, and indeed it is thanks precisely to these new technologies that many musical genres have been renewed. The possibilities of shaping new sounds are indeed infinite, far exceeding any expectation. The sound itself can be decomposed into thousands of parts, analyzed, retouched, and reconstructed. And it is undeniable that the more it will be possible to do so thanks to new technologies, the more we will continue in this direction. But is it really music that is generated by a technological instrument that creates a purely electronic sound? Obviously, yes. Of course, there is a big difference between experimenting with a few sketches and being able to compose a complete and refined work of art. Many have tried to imitate Hecker in recent years, very few have even come close to his musical expressiveness.
The cover of 'Ravedeath, 1972' represents what we have talked about so far. The fall of a piano from the roof of a building represents musical decay, the abandonment of music as we know it, (at least conceptually) towards new paths and horizons yet to be explored. Essentially, towards the unknown. I wrote conceptually because if you expect to listen to a record composed of purely electronic sounds, you are wrong, in part. Ravedeath was recorded in a large church in Reykjavik, Iceland. Here, Hecker semi-improvised short compositions on a pipe organ. Everything you will hear in this album is the result of a lot of time spent in the studio mixing, constructing, deconstructing, and recomposing every single sound of those improvisations. The mix also includes piano and electric guitar, just to reiterate how the relationship between acoustic and electronic instruments is still absolutely fundamental today. However, the organ will no longer have the sound we know; it will be distorted, and the sound itself will be remodulated at will, according to the composer's desire. In the background, thousands of purely electronic sounds paint the backdrop of the picture. Hecker's quality lies in blending all these elements in such a superb way. Behind a work like this are countless hours of studio work and knowledge of mixing techniques that would make even the most virtuous musician envious. The complete presence of drones and noises, and the strong component of improvisation within the album, only reinforce Hecker's unique artistic quality, capable of letting such complex music breathe, (which in fact represents mainly theory rather than practice) giving it an ingenuous and spontaneous soul, always a fundamental and indispensable premise of music.
Hecker's style is, as I mentioned, strongly influenced by noise. The album can be classified as Noise/Drone music, as well as Ambient.
Regarding noise, it is appropriate to quote the famous avant-garde composer John Cage:
<< Wherever we are, what we hear is mostly noise. When we ignore it, it disturbs us. When we listen to it, we are fascinated>> (John Cage).
Everything we hear, in fact, from the wind to the sound of a waterfall, can be classified as noise. Hecker began composing music by modulating white noise after recording it from radio sources. He manages to transform any sound into music, but he no longer does it as an experiment in concrete/electroacoustic music, but by associating each sound with a precise placement and composing a well-defined work in all its smallest details.
Heckerian ambient is the offspring of Klaus Schulze's cosmic ambient as much as of Steve Reich and Brian Eno's minimalism. The result is, however, absolutely unique and personal. Ravedeath 1972 has already rightfully entered the history of electronic music. Ambient music has always had the function of generating reflections and images within individuals who are affected by it. This cannot obviously happen with everyone; it remains, indeed, a rather niche genre, but when these sounds touch the right chords of a particular individual, the most common symptoms are: childhood memories; a mood swinging between sadness, happiness, and inner calm; nostalgia for places visited and unvisited; continuous images collocated with each other in a loop.
In short, a real mental journey, purely personal. To conclude, I quote Klaus Schulze, which in my opinion fits perfectly with listening to Ravedeath 1972, and perfectly synthesizes what I tried to express in my own words a moment ago:
« I wish everyone a pleasant exploration of themselves, I can't express it best with words because I'm not a poet but a musician. »(Klaus Schulze)
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