''Love Streams'' is the eighth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by Canadian electronic music musician

Tim Hecker Tim Hecker is a Canadian electronic musician, producer, composer, and sound artist. His work, spanning atmospheric ambient albums such as ''Harmony in Ultraviolet'' (2006), ''Ravedeath, 1972'' (2011) and ''Virgins'' (2013), has been widely cr ...

, released on April 8, 2016 on

4AD 4AD is a British record label owned by Beggars Group. It was founded in London under the name "Axis" (after the Hendrix album) by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent in 1980 as an imprint of Beggars Banquet Records. The name was changed to 4AD af ...

and Paper Bag Records. The album was recorded throughout 2014 and 2015 at Greenhouse Studios in Reykjavík, Iceland, where parts of Hecker's last two albums ''

Virgins Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

'' (2013) and ''

Ravedeath, 1972 ''Ravedeath, 1972'' is the sixth studio album by Canadian electronic music musician Tim Hecker, released on February 14, 2011, by Kranky (record label), Kranky. The album was recorded primarily in Fríkirkjan í Reykjavík, Frikirkjan Church, Reyk ...

'' (2011) were recorded.

Background and recording

The album features

Kara-Lis Coverdale Kara-Lis Coverdale, also known as K-LC, is a Canadian composer, musician, producer, based in Montreal, Quebec. Coverdale is known equally for her piano, organ, and keyboard work as she is for her experimental electronic projects; often her work ...

and Grímur Helgason, who were both collaborators on Hecker's last album ''Virgins'', as well as contributions from the Icelandic Choir Ensemble, whose vocal arrangements were scored by Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson. Hecker professed to having thought about ideas like " liturgical aesthetics after '' Yeezus''" and the "transcendental voice in the age of auto-tune" during its creation.

Critical reception

''Love Streams'' received universal acclaim from critics. On the aggregate score site Metacritic, the album scored at 82 out of 100, indicating "universal acclaim". '' Pitchfork'' wrote that "''Love Streams'' marks a subtle shift in Tim Hecker's habitual style, a pivot away from his hazy trademark." PopMatters gave the album nine stars out of ten, stating that "Love Streams is at once familiar and totally alien; a work of art that reminds us why we need art in the first place."

Accolades

Track listing

Personnel

* Jóhann Jóhannsson – choral arrangement * Icelandic Choir Ensemble – choir * Owen Roberts – choir conductor *

Ben Frost Ben Frost (born 1980) is an Australian-Icelandic musician, composer, record producer, sound designer, and director. Life Born in Melbourne, Australia, and based in Reykjavík, Iceland, since 2005, Frost composes minimalist, instrumental, a ...

– studio engineering, additional choral production *

– keyboards * Paul Corley – additional mixing * Grímur Helgason – woodwind

Charts

References

{{Authority control Tim Hecker albums 2016 albums 4AD albums Paper Bag Records albums