Albums to watch

Love Streams

Tim Hecker

Love Streams

The Montreal-based electronic musician's eighth album recorded in Reykjavík with contributions from the Icelandic Choir Ensemble

ADM rating[?]

7.9

Label
4AD
UK Release date
08/04/2016
US Release date
08/04/2016
  1. 9.5 |   The Quietus

    Love Streams is both a masterpiece of contemporary composition and of emotional sensitivity
    Read Review

  2. 9.1 |   Consequence Of Sound

    Very few composers can achieve this kind of beauty or this kind of experimentation, and yet Hecker does both, time and time again
    Read Review

  3. 9.0 |   Exclaim

    If Ravedeath, 1972 and Virgins were pinnacles for the producer, Love Streams leaps into orbit, beaming elegiac streams of sound to the heavens and beyond
    Read Review

  4. 9.0 |   Drowned In Sound

    Serves as testament to Hecker’s ever more potent ability to make music that feels alive, that is successful on both a physical and mental leve
    Read Review

  5. 9.0 |   musicOMH

    It’s alive and constantly evolving: a slippery beast of a record that you can try and get a hold of, but thankfully you probably never will
    Read Review

  6. 9.0 |   PopMatters

    Tim Hecker and his accomplice Ben Frost are cooking up some of the most striking, beautiful, and genre-defying music of our time
    Read Review

  7. 8.2 |   Pitchfork

    Marks a subtle shift in Tim Hecker's habitual style, a pivot away from his hazy trademark
    Read Review

  8. 8.0 |   The Guardian

    It feels like music aimed at the gut, rather than the head, which might explain its burgeoning appeal. In the best possible way, Love Streams is a draining listen
    Read Review

  9. 8.0 |   Mojo

    Heavy on ethereal choirs and glacial, grandiose chords. Print edition only

  10. 8.0 |   Q

    His layering of electronic and classical music weighted with meaning as light as dust. Print edition only

  11. 8.0 |   All Music

    Easily Hecker's most accessible work to date, yet it's also one of his most challenging
    Read Review

  12. 8.0 |   Clash

    This is not an ambient record that you can simply let wash over you, although it does sporadically lull you into that headspace
    Read Review

  13. 8.0 |   Crack

    There is not a single solitary moment where Hecker lacks ingenuity or blurs his intentions
    Read Review

  14. 8.0 |   Loud And Quiet

    From the ephemeral to the discordant, it’s the imperceptible fragments and figments of sound that makes this record so compelling
    Read Review

  15. 8.0 |   The Digital Fix

    Hecker has made another album of boldly experimental yet moving electronic music which feels truly human
    Read Review

  16. 8.0 |   The Skinny

    A dense, paranoid and phenomenally pretty exploration of post-millennial wonder that’ll keep you coming back, even as it fills the pit of your stomach with dread
    Read Review

  17. 8.0 |   The Music

    Despite the use of advanced technology, Love Streams is a triumph of heartbreak and wonder. Get lost in this
    Read Review

  18. 8.0 |   The Observer

    The word “immersive” is bandied about a lot, but Hecker’s work really is
    Read Review

  19. 8.0 |   Gig Soup

    ‘Love Streams’ is a banquet, every little attention to detail has its purpose, every passage flows and flutters brilliantly
    Read Review

  20. 8.0 |   Tiny Mix Tapes

    Doubt, disbelief, and uncertainty are conjured across Love Streams, both as bludgeoning buildups and tumbling segues
    Read Review

  21. 8.0 |   The Irish Times

    He can do ethereal ambience (the hazy Music of the Air) and then produce splatters of intense, visceral and stunning noise such as on Live Leak Instrumental.
    Read Review

  22. 7.8 |   Resident Advisor

    In Hecker's uncanny knack for blending noise and ineffable sound together, he makes for a turbulent sonic trip that ultimately feels redemptive
    Read Review

  23. 7.5 |   A.V. Club

    The album’s best tracks—“Castrati Stack” and the ambitious closer “Black Phase”—are also its most enveloping
    Read Review

  24. 7.5 |   Pretty Much Amazing

    It’s a promising development in his career, in that it proves not only that Hecker hasn’t run out of ideas but that he’s still bursting with them
    Read Review

  25. 7.0 |   Spectrum Culture

    It’s Hecker’s idea of the human voice that emerges on Love Streams
    Read Review

  26. 7.0 |   Slant Magazine

    Ironically, it's Hecker's use of digital instrumentation that best approximates organic noise
    Read Review

  27. 7.0 |   Spin

    Like the sleazy glow of a neon cross, Love Streams is a beacon for sanctuary and salvation in these most unholy of modern times
    Read Review

  28. 6.0 |   DIY

    Hecker has once again shaped something that feels weighty and important, shafts of light illuminating the dark landscape
    Read Review

  29. 6.0 |   Beardfood

    Synths feel tacked on, an after-thought to add texture. Dull, at least duller than his usual output
    Read Review


blog comments powered by Disqus

Watch it

Roll over video for more options

Hear it

Preview & download it

Tim Hecker: Love Streams

  • Download full album for just £8.49
  • 1. Obsidian Counterpoint £0.89
  • 2. Music of the Air £0.89
  • 3. Bijie Dream £0.89
  • 4. Live Leak Instrumental £0.89
  • 5. Violet Monumental I £0.89
  • 6. Violet Monumental II £0.89
  • 7. Up Red Bull Creek £0.89
  • 8. Castrati Stack £0.89
  • 9. Voice Crack £0.89
  • 10. Collapse Sonata £0.89
  • 11. Black Phase £0.89
  • Service provided by 7Digital

Latest Reviews

More reviews