Tim Hecker - An Imaginary Country (Kranky, 2009)
I don’t know why I slept on this album for almost half a year… I remember walking around with it in the early spring, on a foggy day that seemed to match it perfectly, yet it didn’t seem to grab me. however, hearing it again full blast through stereo speakers served to re-enlighten me as to how beautifully crafted is this album of electro/shoegaze. in the summer sunshine, it takes on another quality, almost classical-sounding in its composition (hence the quote here).
each track is a geographic exploration within the symphonic whole, so underneath the semi-oppressive, semi-crystalline layers of shoegaze you hear soft pulses in ‘Inland Shore’, marshy squiggles in ‘Pond Life’ and an eerie tone to ‘Borderlands’.
