“This Life”

“This Life,” the first single from Tim Hecker’s forthcoming record Konoyo (phoneticized from the Japanese for “This World”), takes its time and takes up space, unfolding patiently over nearly nine minutes. Hecker recorded most of Konoyo in Japan with Tokyo Gakuso, an ensemble that plays a kind of Japanese classical music called gagaku, and they add a rich, organic quality to the Canadian producer’s carefully calibrated electronics. Long, wailing notes swirl down like objects hurled from a cliff, while an intermittent bassline stirs the progression along. On songs like this one, it feels less like Hecker is a composer of music and more like he’s an engineer of fluid dynamics, setting up pressure systems and stepping back as things flow. As “This Life” develops, those sad, descending notes fade to silence and low, restless synthesizers burble up to take their place. Glitches and static float haze-like toward the end of the track, when melody ceases to be a priority and Hecker focuses entirely on texture. Through “This Life,” he seems to mourn, but he doesn’t dwell indefinitely in grief; the feeling dissipates and equilibrium returns. Hecker’s subtle, abstract music rarely attaches itself to such immediate emotions, but on “This Life,” he indulges in a sad song while showing that sad songs don’t last forever.