Tim Hecker

Tim Hecker makes ambient music that unsettles. Born in Vancouver in 1974, he first emerged around the turn of the millennium as part of Canada’s fertile leftfield electronic scene, recording knotty electro and gauzy dub techno as Jetone. But in 2001, under his own name, he pivoted to his own unique ambient sound informed by acoustic timbres and post-rock textures—and that would remain his zone for years to come. Availing himself of digital synths, grinding field recordings and overdriven church organs—the chief component of 2011’s Ravedeath, 1972, recorded in an Icelandic church with Ben Frost—Hecker boasts a recognisable signature in the form of his sandblasted pulses and densely buzzing thickets of tone. His atmospheric sensibility, meanwhile, has led to a growing body of soundtracks for films like Brandon Cronenberg’s 2023 feature, Infinity Pool. Whether Hecker is working solo, for the screen, or in collaboration with artists like Oneohtrix Point Never, his output is invariably gripping.