Tim Hecker, Radio Amor (side C)

Tim Hecker's core palette of grainy, down-sampled sounds that border on noise provides a foundation for Radio Amor.  Tremolo and other subtle effects often provide immediate variations, and the sounds often shift in timbre as a piece evolves.  10 discrete tracks spread over four sides, and most of them retain a consistent volume through the individual track.  The loud pieces tend to remain more distorted and at a higher volume, while the quieter pieces fall further in the background and utilize less harshness.  Hecker also occasionally employs a simple analog synth to create clicks and splatters.  These more defined sounds naturally land in front of the crushed, sustained sounds, and they're sometimes often mixed loudly as well.  The tracks evolve in ways that feel unobvious — busy tracks might be shorter, and the pieces with less activity last longer.  The intention here is not always clear, as the slowly-evolving tracks don't exactly fall into the background as ambient music, but they instead just seem to be waiting a long time for the next event.  The sequence between tracks also follows no logical progression — many pieces have similarities in palette, but there's no additional clear relationship between adjacent tracks.  Hecker clearly has remarkable control over the crushed textures that he utilizes, and sometimes they evolve in magical and engaging ways.  At other times, the decisions on Radio Amor seem so arbitrary that it fails to sustain its magic through a long double-album.  The blurry silhouette in the front photo fits with the blurry monotone of much of Hecker's palette, and the handwritten font nicely matches the intimacy of his approach.