Vancouver-born ambient electronic artist Tim Hecker’s album No Highs came out on April 7th this year. It’s got his signature ambient, drone-y sound, of course, and at this point, he’s quite the ambient music veteran.
Making music since 1996, Hecker has eleven albums out, and he’s done a lot of film scores as well, most recently the score for Brandon Cronenberg’s Infinity Pool (2023). He’s a well-established and well-respected name in the ambient/electronic music scene, and he’s from Vancouver, which is cool!
basic_sounds / Flickr
No Highs is his latest release, featuring eleven tracks, and coming in at 51 minutes long. If you’re not an ambient music listener, the eight-minute long tracks might seem intimidating, but that’s just kinda par for the course with drone stuff like this. Actually listening to them doesn’t feel like it takes a full eight minutes.
The first track of No Highs, “Monotony”, opens with the same note played in a sequence that kind of sounds like morse code, and the song continually builds up in sound, adding more and more while building the drama. Subsequent tracks feature discordant strings, his signature organ sound, and some saxophone parts played by esteemed composer Colin Stetson. The album felt cohesive yet textured enough to be captivating. One thing I really like about Hecker’s work is his production, which was good on this album, however certain parts did feel a bit abrasive, but that might’ve even been a stylistic choice. I’ve noticed another thing, too, with his sound–it’s often quite cinematic, which makes sense, given his ample experience in movie scores. Several tracks, but especially “Lotus Light”, were sweeping and felt like being brought along on some kind of journey.
As far as ambient drone music goes, I would say that No Highs is relatively accessible–it isn’t particularly harsh, has a lot of really beautiful sounds, and has enough melody to not be fully drone. I’m not sure if I’d necessarily recommend it as an entry-level album to the genre, but it also wouldn’t be the worst choice, either.
My favorite tracks are “Monotony II” and “Winter Cop”. “Monotony II” opens in the same way as “Monotony”, but the Colin Stetson feature is very strong–his saxophone playing is really mesmerizing and adds a lot to this track. “Winter Cop” is a pretty simple song, a bit more bare-bones, but that aligns more with my personal preferences. It reminds me of taking a walk in the forest while it’s snowing.
If you like this type of music, then I definitely recommend No Highs. It’s one of my favorite ambient releases of 2023 so far, and I’d rate it 4/5 stars. Give it a listen!