Tim Hecker is a Canadian

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electro ...

ian, producer, composer, and

sound art Sound art is an artistic activity in which sound is utilized as a primary medium or material. Like many genres of contemporary art, sound art may be interdisciplinary in nature, or be used in hybrid forms. According to Brandon LaBelle, sound art ...

ist. His work, spanning atmospheric ambient albums such as ''

Harmony in Ultraviolet ''Harmony in Ultraviolet'' is the fourth studio album by Canadian electronic music musician Tim Hecker, released on October 16, 2006, on Kranky. Critical reaction The album was generally praised by critics, with ''Pitchfork Media'' writer Mark ...

'' (2006), ''

Ravedeath, 1972 ''Ravedeath, 1972'' is the sixth studio album by Canadian electronic music musician Tim Hecker, released on February 14, 2011, by Kranky. The album was recorded primarily in Frikirkjan Church, Reykjavík, by Ben Frost. It makes prominent use of ...

'' (2011) and ''

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), has been widely critically acclaimed. He has released nine albums and a number of EPs in addition to a number of

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...

s and collaborations with artists such as Arca,

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, instrumenta ...

Jóhann Jóhannsson Jóhann Gunnar Jóhannsson (; 19 September 1969 – 9 February 2018) was an Icelandic composer who wrote music for a wide array of media including theatre, dance, television, and film. His work is stylised by its blending of traditional orchest ...

, Daniel Lopatin, and

Aidan Baker Aidan Baker (born 1974/75) is a musician from Toronto, Ontario, Canada who has released numerous records both as a solo artist and as part of various side projects, including Nadja, ARC, Caudal and Mnemosyne. He has also written several books ...

Biography

Born in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

, Hecker is the son of two art teachers. During his

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

years, he played in rock bands with friends, before acquiring a sampler and working on solo material. He moved to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

in 1998 to study at

Concordia University Concordia University (French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...

and explore his artistic interests further."Spin Interview 2013"
Christopher R. Weingarten, 'Tim Hecker: Attack of the Drones', ''Spin Magazine''; October 10, 2013 He initially performed internationally as a DJ and

techno Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...

producer under the name Jetone, releasing three albums under the moniker. By 2001 he became disenchanted with the musical direction of the Jetone project. In 2001, Hecker released the album '' Haunt Me, Haunt Me Do It Again'', under his own name through the label Alien8. He followed with '' Radio Amor'' (2003) and '' Mirages'' (2004). In 2006 he moved to Kranky where he released his fourth album ''

.'' He subsequently incorporated the use of

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks' ...

sounds which were digitally processed and distorted. The album was called the 9th best ambient album of all time by

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

. For the album ''

'', Hecker traveled to

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

where together with

, he recorded parts in a church. ''

'' was awarded the

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall o ...

for Electronic Album of the Year. In November 2010, Alien8 re-released Hecker's debut album on vinyl. Live performances contain improvisations by processing organ sounds that are manipulated, with great fluctuations in volume. In 2012, Hecker collaborated with Daniel Lopatin (who also records as Oneohtrix Point Never) on an improvisatory project which became '' Instrumental Tourist'' (2012)."Instrumental Tourist review"
Mark Richardson, 'Tim Hecker/Daniel Lopatin Instrumental Tourist review', ''Pitchfork'', November 30, 2012 Following 2013's ''

'', Hecker convened once again in Reykjavik,

for sessions across 2014 and 2015, to create what would become '' Love Streams''. Collaborators include

, Johann Johannsson, Kara-Lis Coverdale and Grimur Helgason, whilst the 15th century choral works by

Josquin des Prez Josquin Lebloitte dit des Prez ( – 27 August 1521) was a composer of High Renaissance music, who is variously described as French or Franco-Flemish. Considered one of the greatest composers of the Renaissance, he was a central figure of the ...

birthed the foundations of the album. In February 2016, it was announced that Hecker had joined 4AD while '' Love Streams'' (2016) was released in April of that year. Hecker admits to thinking about ideas like "liturgical aesthetics after '' Yeezus''" and the "transcendental voice in the age of

auto-tune Auto-Tune (or autotune) is an audio processor introduced in 1996 by American company Antares Audio Technologies. Auto-Tune uses a proprietary device to measure and alter pitch in vocal and instrumental music recording and performances. Auto-T ...

" during its creation. In addition to touring with

Godspeed You! Black Emperor Godspeed You! Black Emperor (sometimes abbreviated to GY!BE or Godspeed) is a Canadian post-rock band which originated in Montreal, Quebec in 1994. The group releases recordings through Constellation, an independent record label also loca ...

and

Sigur Rós Sigur Rós () is an Icelandic post-rock band from Reykjavík, active since 1994. The band comprises singer and guitarist Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson, bassist Georg Hólm, and keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson. Known for their ethereal sound, fr ...

and recording with the likes of Fly Pan Am, Hecker has also collaborated with the likes of Arca and

. He has also contributed remixes to other artists, including Ellen Allien,

John Cale John Davies Cale (born 9 March 1942) is a Welsh musician, composer, singer, songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the American rock band the Velvet Underground. Over his six-decade career, Cale has worked in various sty ...

Isis Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kin ...

, and

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cr ...

Personal life

Hecker pursued a professional career outside music and worked as a political analyst for the

Canadian Government The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown-in ...

in the early 2000s."Guestlist on Pitchfork"
'Guest Lists: Tim Hecker', ''Pitchfork Media'', October 27, 2006 After leaving his employment in 2006 he enrolled at McGill University to study for a PhD,"McGill Daily"
John Watson 'Bring the noise', ''The McGill Daily'', April 5, 2011 with a thesis on urban noise that was published in 2014. He has also worked there as a lecturer in

sound culture Sound studies is an interdisciplinary field that to date has focused largely on the emergence of the concept of "sound" in Western modernity, with an emphasis on the development of sound reproduction technologies. The field first emerged in venues l ...

in the Art History and Communications department."Quietus Interview"
Ryan Alexander Diduck 'Darkness More Than Anything: Tim Hecker Interviewed', ''The Quietus'', March 21, 2012

Discography

Tim Hecker

Albums

*'' Haunt Me, Haunt Me Do It Again'' (2001) *'' Radio Amor'' (2003) *'' Mirages'' (2004) *''

'' (2006) *'' An Imaginary Country'' (2009) *''

'' (2011) * ''

'' (2013) * '' Love Streams'' (2016) * '' Konoyo'' (2018) * '' Anoyo'' (2019) * '' The North Water (Original Score)'' (2021)

EPs and other

*'' Trade Winds, White Noise'' (2002) *'' My Love Is Rotten to the Core'' (2002) *''Radio Marti / Radio Havana'' (2004) *'' Mort Aux Vaches'' (2005) *''Pareidolia'' (2006) *''Norberg'' (2007) *''Atlas'' (2007) *''Apondalifa'' (2010) *'' Dropped Pianos'' (2011)

Collaborations

*''Random_Inc Meets Tim Hecker In Musrara'' with Random_Inc (2002) *''Fantasma Parastasie'' with

(

Nadja Nadja may refer to: * Nadja (given name) * Nadja, pen-name of Louisa Nadia Green (1896—1934), British poet * ''Nadja'' (novel), 1928 surrealist novel by André Breton * ''Nadja'' (film), 1994 vampire film by Michael Almereyda * Nadja (band) ...

) (2008) *'' Archer on the Beach'' with Dan Bejar (

Destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed ...

) (2010) *'' Instrumental Tourist'' with Daniel Lopatin ( Oneohtrix Point Never) (2012) *''Qalaq'' with Jerusalem In My Heart (2021)

As Jetone

*''Autumnumonia'' (2000) *''Ultramarin'' (2001) *''Sundown'' (2006)

Credits

*Mitchell Akiyama – 'Temporary Music' (2002) *Désormais – 'Climate Variations' (2002) *Ghislain Poirier – 'Sous Le Manguier' (2002) *Tennis – 'Self-Heal Mishap' (Undertaker Mix) (2003) *

– 'Carry' (2004) *

– 'Carry' (Tim Hecker Remix Second Version) (2004) * Ris Paul Ric – 'Purple Blaze' (2005) *TV Pow – 'Whiteout' (2005) *Ensemble – 'Disown, Delete' (2006) *

Lesbians On Ecstasy __NOTOC__ Lesbians on Ecstasy is a Canadian electronic band formed in 2003 in Montreal, Quebec. The band toured across Canada and the U.S. with Le Tigre before the release of their first recording. The first album, the self-titled '' Lesbians ...

– 'We Know You Know' (2007) * Colin Stetson – 'Time Is Advancing With Fitful Irregularity White Pulse Mix' (2009) *

Bell Orchestre Bell Orchestre is a six-piece instrumental band from Montreal. It was formed in 1999 by multi-instrumentalist Richard Parry and violinist Sarah Neufeld. Both also joined Arcade Fire. They were joined in Bell Orchestre by Michael Feuerstack (ste ...

– 'Water / Light / Shifts' (Remix) (2009) *

Genghis Tron Genghis Tron is an American four-piece cybergrind band formed in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States, and latterly based in Brooklyn, New York and San Francisco, California. The band signed to Relapse Records after releasing two recordings ...

– 'Board Up The House' (Tim Hecker Remix) (2009) * Ellen Allien – 'Sun The Rain' (Tim Hecker Remix) (2011) *

– Suffocation Raga For John Cale (Tim Hecker Transition) (2012) *

Mogwai Mogwai () are a Scottish post-rock band, formed in 1995 in Glasgow. The band consists of Stuart Braithwaite (guitar, vocals), Barry Burns (guitar, piano, synthesizer, vocals), Dominic Aitchison (bass guitar), and Martin Bulloch (drums). Mog ...

– 'Rano Pano' (Tim Hecker Remix) (2012) * Ellen Allien – 'Sun The Rain' (Tim Hecker Rmx) (2013) *The Field – 'No. No...' (Tim Hecker Mix) (2014) *

Hundred Waters Hundred Waters is an American band formed in Gainesville, Florida in October 2011, composed of Nicole Miglis (vocals, piano, flute), Trayer Tryon (production, electronics, bass) and Zach Tetreault (drums, percussion, trumpet). The group came to pr ...

– 'Down From The Rafters' (Tim Hecker Remix) (2014) *

– 'Aurora' (2014) *

Dorian Concept Dorian Concept (born Oliver Thomas Johnson, 1984) is an Austrian composer, music producer and keyboardist whose work draws on an eclectic variety of sources including modal and free jazz, funk, hip-hop, electronic, ambient, and soundscape musi ...

– 'The Sky Opposite' (Tim Hecker Remix) (2015) *

– Twice As Hard (Remixed By Tim Hecker) (2016) *

Sarah Neufeld Sarah Neufeld (born August 27, 1979) is a Canadian violinist who is known for her work with indie rock band Arcade Fire, with whom she is a former core member and currently a touring member. She has contributed to each of the band's studio a ...

– 'The Ridge' (2016) * Michael Gordon, Mantra Percussion – Timber (Tim Hecker Remix) (2016) * Ben Lukas Boysen – 'Nocturne 4' (Tim Hecker Remix) (2017) * Chitose Hajime – '豊年節' (Tim Hecker Remix) (2019) * Arca – 'Cayó' (2022)

Art

Hecker occasionally makes sound installations and has collaborated with visual artists such as

Stan Douglas Stan Douglas (born October 11, 1960) is an artist based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Douglas' film and video installations, photography and work in television frequently touch on the history of literature, cinema and music, while examining ...

and

Charles Stankievech Charles Stankievech (born 1978) is a Canadian artist, writer, publisher and curator. Biography As a result of the wide spectrum of strategies and the conceptual drive behind the production, his work has been located in the Conceptual Art Co ...

. Hecker, along with other musicians

and Steve Goodman ( Kode9) and artists Piotr Jakubowicz, Marcel Weber (MFO) and Manuel Sepulveda (Optigram), provided music for

Unsound Festival Unsound Festival, also known as Unsound, is an annual music festival that takes place in Kraków, Poland, dealing with evolving and mutating forms of music, as well as related visual arts. Apart from the main festival, Unsound regularly takes plac ...

's sensory installation, Ephemera. Hecker composed the score for Damien Jalet's performance piece Planet anderer

Film

Hecker composed the score for 2016's '' The Free World'', selected to be shown in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section at the

2016 Sundance Film Festival The 2016 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 21 to January 31, 2016. The first lineup of competition films was announced on December 2, 2015. The opening night film was ''Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You'', directed by Heidi E ...

. He composed the score for

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

drama series '' The North Water'' directed by Andrew Haigh and based on

Ian McGuire Ian McGuire (born 1964) is an English author and academic. In 1996 he joined the University of Manchester as a lecturer in American Literature and later lectured in Creative Writing. He was co-director of the Centre for New Writing and is curren ...

's novel of the same name. Hecker also composed the score for the Austrian drama and horror film Luzifer, which won the Best Actor Award for Franz Rogowski at

Fantastic Fest Fantastic Fest is an annual film festival in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 2005 by Tim League of Alamo Drafthouse, Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News, Paul Alvarado-Dykstra, and Tim McCanlies, writer of ''The Iron Giant'' and ''Secondhand ...

in 2021 and Best Actress Award for Susanne Jensen and Best Actor Award for Franz Rogowski at the 2021

Sitges Film Festival The Sitges Film Festival ( ca, Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya, links=no) is an annual film festival held in Sitges, Spain, specialized in fantasy and horror films, of which it is considered one of the world's foremost in ...

. Hecker is currently composing the score for Infinity Pool, the upcoming film by Canadian director Brandon Cronenberg, starring

Alexander Skarsgård Alexander Johan Hjalmar Skarsgård (; born August 25, 1976) is a Swedish actor. Born in Stockholm, he began acting at age seven but quit at 13. After serving in the Swedish military, Skarsgård returned to acting and gained his first role in th ...

and Mia Goth, which will premiere at

Sundance Film A Sun Dance is a Native American ceremony. Sun dance or Sundance may also refer to: Places ;Canada *Sundance, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood * Sundance, Manitoba, a ghost town ;United States * Sundance, New Mexico, a census-designated plac ...

References

External links

* * *
Discography at Discogs

Interviews

*McDermott, Emily.
Tim Hecker’s Peace of Mind
''Interview Magazine'', May 19, 2016. *Kretowicz, Steph.
“I am lost with infinite choices”: Tim Hecker on the information overload of his new album ''Love Streams''"
''FACT Magazine'', 31 March 2016. *Burns, Todd.
Tim Hecker
''Red Bull Music Academy'', October 19, 2016. *Gottsegen, Will.
Tim Hecker 'Anoyo' Interview
, ''SPIN'', May 31, 2019. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hecker, Tim Living people Musicians from Montreal Musicians from Vancouver Ambient musicians Canadian electronic musicians Noise musicians Alien8 Recordings artists Paper Bag Records artists 1974 births Juno Award for Electronic Album of the Year winners