Aidan Baker and Tim Hecker Fantasma Parastasie
Amongst the many visions conjured by this debut collaboration between two big names in the […]
Amongst the many visions conjured by this debut collaboration between two big names in the admittedly small circle of ambient/drone music, few are musical. Think of the bizarrely cellular organics of a Hieronymus Bosch painting, or New York artists Mike and Doug Starn’s segmented and strangely lit photographs–images that are simultaneously bulbous and disjointed. With a palette of dark and often discordant colors comprised of hyper-distorted electric guitars and overblown synthesizers, Baker and Hecker create music worthy of the luminous noise names whom they reference as touchstones, such as Merzbow and Muslimgauze–music as finely articulated as a symphony, loud enough to be painful, and arcane enough to warrant repeat listening. Loud is, indeed, the new quiet.