Tim Hecker - No Highs [Kranky - 2023]It was simply a matter of time before the worm turned and all of the insular, self-soothing, pandemic-inspired clap trap was left with its sonic pacifiers, waiting. Tim Hecker's No Highs is nearly a polemic forged against the grain of feel-good ambience and its pretty, flowery massage therapist soundtracks. Hecker is too wise to browbeat the way I'm doing right now, but the stakes are clear – No Highs – a perfectly contemporary version of turning away from artificial plenitudes and trumped-up totalities. Hecker has crafted a long journey, but it is not an arduous one, which means that for those who cannot hear the Canadian's code, it might sound like business as usual, but it's not. With tracks variously titled, "Monotony II", "Total Garbage", and "Lotus Light", Hecker has a good feel for the room he's in. "Anxiety", the 9th of the 11 tracks, is a masterpiece, and after several listens, I was unsettled, and I wanted more of that. That, there, that feeling. There are brief explosions of horns and the microtonal acumen that has become a hallmark of Hecker's work (groovers be damned!), which means that I guess I could have seen this coming. But that doesn't mean I was expecting quite such a statement, which, in keeping with Hecker's modus, is almost there but not quite.
For fans of Hecker, Kranky labelmates Christina Vantzou, Keith Fullerton Whitman, and anyone who just isn't convinced by the earnestness of contemporary practitioners, be they musicians or politicians. Highly recommended!   Colin Lang
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