William Basinski
The Disintegration Loops II

The first loop lasts about 7 seconds and 5 tenths: in one minute, the loop is repeated about 8 times; the first track of this CD lasts 32'38", so the loop is repeated about 260 times.

The second loop lasts about 8 seconds and 25 hundredths: in one minute, the loop is repeated about 7 times; the second track of this CD lasts 41'53", so the loop is repeated about 300 times.

This is the music offered by Texan William Basinski in "The Disintegration Loops II," the second chapter of the saga dedicated to the disintegration of sound and its moving permanence in memory. The story is well-known but worth recalling: in August and September 2001, Basinski worked on magnetic tape recordings over twenty years old that were losing sound quality. He attempted to save them in digital format, but the tapes disintegrated, and what was ultimately preserved is the chronicle of their gradual dissolution.

Thus, in "The Disintegration Loops II," released in 2003, we witness the slow agony of sound: both in the first track, laconically titled "dlp 2.2," where a single repetitive sound already shows signs of decay after 20 minutes; and in the second, "dlp 3," where a somewhat more intricate loop, based on three sounds, displays symptoms of its ailment, first almost imperceptibly, then increasingly dramatically.

The background sound commentary is always discreet: some keyboard, some low-register sonority, some percussive impulse. But William Basinski's genius lies in having constructed an apocalyptic sound image, as suggested by the covers of this series of CDs reminiscent of the events of September 11, 2001, giving us a musical metaphor of the human condition.

post scriptum
I happened to write this review by hand, with paper and pen, in a library. While I was writing, the pen ran out of ink: then I went down to the front desk and borrowed a pencil to complete the review. When I finished and left, relieved, I couldn't help but reflect on the analogies between that unexpected event and the painful serenity of this quiet and melancholic music.