Tim Hecker

Timeline by topic

Topics follow the event kinds supplied in this index. Each entry links to its full record in the chronological timeline. Dates retain the precision supplied by the publisher.

Timeline

1. 1974-07-17Born in Vancouver, British ColumbiabirthVancouver, British Columbia, Canada

   Timothy D. Hecker, son of two art teachers; the date rests on reference listings rather than a primary record.

   [14][13][16]
2. 1998Moved to Montreal for graduate studyeducationConcordia UniversityMontreal, Quebec, Canada

   After his undergraduate degree at UBC he relocated to Montreal to study at Concordia University and began working in the city's electronic scene.

   [14][16][26]
3. 2000Jetone — AutumnumoniapublicationPitchcadet

   First Jetone album, released on the Pitchcadet imprint.

   [16]
4. 2001-08-21Jetone — UltramarinpublicationForce Inc. Music Works

   Second and final Jetone album, on Force Inc.; Pitchfork reviewed it within the early-2000s minimal/glitch-techno wave.

   [16][36]
5. 2001-11-20Haunt Me, Haunt Me Do It AgainpublicationSubstractif / Alien8 Recordings

   Debut album under his own name, on Alien8's Substractif sublabel — the turn from techno to beatless processed sound.

   [9][14][16]
6. 2002My Love Is Rotten to the CorepublicationSubstractif

   Follow-up release on Substractif.

   [15]
7. 2003Radio AmorpublicationMille Plateaux

   Released on Mille Plateaux.

   [14][15]
8. 2004MiragespublicationAlien8 Recordings

   Released on Alien8 Recordings.

   [14][15]
9. 2006Harmony in Ultraviolet — first Kranky albumpublicationKranky

   Opened the long Kranky affiliation and incorporated processed pipe organ into his palette.

   [14][16]
10. 2006Left government work; began McGill PhDroleMcGill UniversityMontreal, Quebec, Canada

    Ended his policy-analyst employment with the Canadian government and enrolled in Art History and Communication Studies at McGill, where he also lectured on sound culture.

    [14][19]
11. 2008Fantasma Parastasie (with Aidan Baker)publicationAlien8 Recordings

    Collaborative album on Alien8.

    [15]
12. 2009An Imaginary CountrypublicationKranky

    Second Kranky album.

    [14]
13. 2010-07-21Ravedeath recorded at Fríkirkjan churchprojectFríkirkjan, Reykjavík, Iceland

    A single day of pipe-organ recording in a small wooden Reykjavík church, engineered with Ben Frost — the raw material for Ravedeath, 1972.

    [18][23]
14. 2011-02-14Ravedeath, 1972 releasedpublicationKranky

    Released on Kranky to universal acclaim; companion sketches followed as Dropped Pianos later that year.

    [14][18]
15. 2012Juno Award — Electronic Album of the YearawardThe JUNO Awards

    Ravedeath, 1972 won the 2012 Juno for Electronic Album of the Year; it had also been longlisted for the 2011 Polaris Music Prize.

    [10][14]
16. 2012-11-20Instrumental Tourist with Daniel LopatinpublicationSoftware Recording Co.

    Improvised collaboration recorded at Mexican Summer Studios, first in the SSTUDIOS series on Software Recording Co.

    [7][16]
17. 2013-10-14Virgins releasedpublicationKranky / Paper Bag Records

    First album built around live chamber performance, recorded in Reykjavík, Montreal, and Seattle; Paper Bag released it in Canada.

    [37][38]
18. 2014PhD dissertation publishededucationMcGill University

    'The era of megaphonics: on the productivity of loud sound, 1880–1930' — a history of loudness as a productive force, from the world's loudest pipe organ to fog signals and shock-wave science.

    [17][19]
19. 2015-12Signed to 4ADmilestone4AD

    The signing was announced in December 2015 alongside 2016 tour dates.

    [45]
20. 2016-04-08Love Streams released on 4ADpublication4AD

    Built on 15th-century choral scores recomposed with Jóhann Jóhannsson and sung by the Icelandic Choir Ensemble — his first record with the voice at its center.

    [6][28][31]
21. 2017Gagaku sessions in TokyoprojectNerima, Tokyo, Japan

    Late-2017 improvisational sessions with members of Tokyo Gakuso at Jiunzan Mandala-Temple Kanzouin, a Buddhist temple in Nerima — the raw material for Konoyo and Anoyo.

    [39][33][34]
22. 2018-09-28Konoyo releasedpublicationKranky

    The first of the two gagaku albums, back on Kranky.

    [32][42]
23. 2019-05-10Anoyo releasedpublicationKranky

    Companion LP from the same sessions — 'that world' to Konoyo's 'this world,' more acoustically exposed.

    [44][5]
24. 2021-08-11Luzifer premieres at LocarnomediaLocarno, Switzerland

    Peter Brunner's horror film with Hecker's score premiered in the Locarno main competition.

    [11]
25. 2021-09The North Water airs on BBC Two; score releasedmediaBBC Two / Invada / Lakeshore

    His first original screen score; the soundtrack album followed on Invada/Lakeshore in September 2021.

    [3][47][15]
26. 2023-01-27Infinity Pool — film and soundtrack releasedmediaMilan Records / Neon

    Brandon Cronenberg's film reached theaters and the Milan Records soundtrack album arrived the same day, after a Sundance premiere.

    [8][48]
27. 2023-04-07No Highs releasedpublicationKranky

    Eleventh studio album on Kranky with modal saxophone by Colin Stetson; nominated for the 2024 Juno for Electronic Album of the Year.

    [2][49][10]
28. 2025-02-21Shards releasedpublicationKranky

    A short Kranky collection of pieces first written for his film and television scores.

    [4][41]

Themes

• Texture as structurereportedmethod

  Critics consistently describe his music as built from timbre and physical sound rather than melody or harmony — 'sculpting sound' into masses that behave like weather or terrain.

  [24][16][38]
• Degradation and ritual destruction of the signalstatedphilosophy

  From the MIT piano drop on Ravedeath's cover to his talk of demolishing and damaging sound while leaving traces of the source, he treats decay, garbage, and overload as compositional material.

  [18][20][24]
• Sacred music without religionstatedbelief

  'Pagan music that dances on the ashes of a burnt church': he plunders liturgical forms — organ, choir, temple gagaku — while recording in churches and temples, fascinated by transcendence he does not profess.

  [28][31][32]
• The acoustic–digital blurreportedmethod

  Reviewers note that in the later records it is impossible to tell where the gagaku flutes, choir, or woodwinds end and the processing begins — the acoustic source and its digital corruption are the composition.

  [39][42][27]
• Constraint against infinite choicestatedbelief

  He argues the digital studio's infinite options produce paralysis, so omitting, blinding, and reducing become the composer's real work — 'a life project: just to make less.'

  [27][32]
• From laptop soloist to bandleaderreportedpractice

  After a decade of solitary processing, his albums from Virgins onward are built on live ensembles — Bedroom Community players, the Icelandic Choir Ensemble, Tokyo Gakuso — with Hecker directing improvisation and answering it in real time.

  [38][42][31]
• Loudness as both scholarship and practiceinferredmethod

  His dissertation historicizes loud sound as a productive, bodily force while his concerts are famed for overwhelming volume in darkness — the index infers continuity between the research and the stage, a link interviews suggest but never state outright.

  [17][19][16][29]
• Ambient against ambientstatedbelief

  No Highs was framed as a riposte to 'false positive corporate ambient' — music of austerity and disquiet positioned against playlist functional calm.

  [2][49]
• The Reykjavík–Montreal circlereportedinfluence

  Ben Frost, Paul Corley, Kara-Lis Coverdale, Jóhann Jóhannsson, and Daniel Lopatin recur as engineers, players, arrangers, and instigators — his solo records are made inside this fraternal network.

  [38][25][14]

Works and projects

• Autumnumonia (as Jetone)recordingreleased2000

  First Jetone album, on Pitchcadet.

  [16]
• Ultramarin (as Jetone)recordingreleased2001-08-21

  Second Jetone album on Force Inc., inside the early-2000s glitch-techno wave.

  [16][36]
• Haunt Me, Haunt Me Do It Againrecordingreleased2001-11-20

  Debut under his own name, on Alien8's Substractif sublabel.

  [9][14]
• My Love Is Rotten to the Corerecordingreleased2002[15]
• Radio Amorrecordingreleased2003

  Released on Mille Plateaux.

  [15][16]
• Miragesrecordingreleased2004

  Released on Alien8 Recordings.

  [15]
• Harmony in Ultravioletrecordingreleased2006

  First Kranky album; later ranked among Pitchfork's best ambient albums.

  [14][16]
• Fantasma Parastasie (with Aidan Baker)recordingreleased2008

  Collaborative album on Alien8.

  [15]
• An Imaginary Countryrecordingreleased2009[14]
• Ravedeath, 1972recordingreleased2011-02-14Reykjavík / Montreal

  Pipe-organ recordings made at Fríkirkjan, Reykjavík, reworked in Montreal; won the 2012 Juno for Electronic Album of the Year.

  [18][10][14]
• Dropped Pianosrecordingreleased2011

  Companion sketches to Ravedeath on Kranky.

  [15]
• Instrumental Tourist (with Daniel Lopatin)recordingreleased2012-11-20

  First SSTUDIOS collaboration on Software Recording Co.

  [7][16]
• Virginsrecordingreleased2013-10-14

  Chamber-ensemble album recorded in Reykjavík, Montreal, and Seattle.

  [37][38]
• The era of megaphonics: on the productivity of loud sound, 1880–1930paperpublished2014

  Doctoral dissertation, McGill University, Art History and Communication Studies.

  [17]
• Love Streamsrecordingreleased2016-04-08

  4AD album built on 15th-century choral scores sung by the Icelandic Choir Ensemble.

  [6][28]
• The Free World (score)filmcompleted2016

  Early feature scoring credit on the independent film.

  [48][45]
• Konoyorecordingreleased2018-09-28

  Gagaku collaboration with Tokyo Gakuso, on Kranky.

  [32][42]
• Anoyorecordingreleased2019-05-10

  Companion gagaku album — 'that world' — from the same sessions.

  [44][5]
• The North Water (BBC Two series score)filmcompleted2021

  First original screen score; the soundtrack album was released on Invada/Lakeshore.

  [3][47][15]
• Luzifer (score)filmcompleted2021

  Score for Peter Brunner's film, premiered at Locarno.

  [11][48]
• La Tour / The Lockdown Tower (score)filmcompleted2022

  Score for Guillaume Nicloux's film; related pieces appear on Shards.

  [35][4]
• Infinity Pool (score)filmcompleted2023-01-27

  Score for Brandon Cronenberg's film; soundtrack album on Milan Records.

  [8][48]
• No Highsrecordingreleased2023-04-07

  Kranky album with Colin Stetson; 2024 Juno nominee.

  [2][10]
• Shardsrecordingreleased2025-02-21

  Kranky collection of pieces first written for film and television scores.

  [4][41]

Appearances

• Three Questions With Tim HeckerSynth History2025-04-30

  On Shards, modular synthesis versus Max/MSP, collaboration, and recommended listening.

  • article: https://www.synthhistory.com/post/three-questions-with-tim-hecker
  [35]
• Tim Hecker Crashes Into FORM Arcosanti With Japan-Inspired Album KonoyoPhoenix New Times2019-05-07

  with Douglas Markowitz

  On the Nerima temple sessions, Jóhann Jóhannsson's instigation, and the tuning gap between gagaku and Western instruments.

  • article: https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/music/tim-hecker-konoyo-japanese-ambient-music-form-arcosanti-2019-11278831/
  [33]
• Electronic artist Tim Hecker delves into ancient Japanese court music and negative space on 'Konoyo'The Japan Times2018-09-25

  with James Hadfield

  On the Tokyo Gakuso sessions, restraint as a life project, and the concept of negative space.

  • article: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2018/09/25/music/tim-hecker-delivers-electronic-take-ancient-japanese-court-music-konoyo/
  [32]
• Tim Hecker's Peace of MindInterview Magazine2016-05-19

  with Emily McDermott

  On Iceland's pull, the Jóhann Jóhannsson-recomposed choir, and his visual-art inspirations.

  • article: https://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/tim-hecker
  [31]
• Tim Hecker: 'I make pagan music that dances on the ashes of a burnt church'The Guardian2016-04-05

  with Bella Todd

  On losing religion, looting 15th-century sacred choral music, and the 4AD move.

  • article: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/apr/05/tim-hecker-sacred-music-ambient-electronica-4ad
  [28]
• 'I am lost with infinite choices'FACT Magazine2016-03-31

  with Steph Kretowicz

  On Love Streams, the analogue–digital divide, and constraint as the answer to digital abundance.

  • article: https://www.factmag.com/2016/03/31/tim-hecker-interview-love-streams/
  [27]
• EX.298 Tim HeckerResident Advisor Exchange2016

  with Matt McDermott

  Podcast interview on Love Streams' Melodyne-processed liturgical sources, live fog and volume, and forming 'vivid pictures with sound.'

  • audio: https://ra.co/exchange/298
  [29]
• Tim Hecker's Angels and DemonsInterview Magazine2013-11-01

  On the Virgins title, his detour into Canadian politics, and '90s technology.

  • article: https://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/tim-hecker-virgins
  [26]
• Tim Hecker: Attack of the DronesSPIN2013-10-10

  with Christopher R. Weingarten, Kara-Lis Coverdale, Ben Frost

  Montreal studio-visit profile during Virgins: the Jetone history, the chaotic two-screen setup, and the ensemble turn.

  • article: https://www.spinmagazine.com/2013/10/tim-hecker-virgins-attack-of-the-drones-interview/
  [25]
• Darkness More Than Anything: Tim Hecker InterviewedThe Quietus2012-03-21

  with Ryan Alexander Diduck

  Studio visit covering church organs, religious rapture, and the McGill sound-studies world.

  • article: https://thequietus.com/interviews/tim-hecker-interview/
  [22]
• Tim Hecker: Imaginary countriesResident Advisor2012-01-27

  with Holly Dicker

  RA feature interview on complexity and ambiguity in the work.

  • article: https://ra.co/features/1519
  [21]
• Bring the noiseThe McGill Daily2011-04

  On his PhD research into loud sound and the classroom work in sound culture.

  • article: https://www.mcgilldaily.com/2011/04/bring-the-noise-2/
  [19]
• Tim Hecker Talks Ravedeath, 1972Exclaim!2011-02-16

  with Vincent Pollard

  Release-week interview covering the Fríkirkjan church session and the album's theme of digital over-consumption and ritual destruction.

  • article: https://exclaim.ca/music/article/tim_hecker_talks_ravedeath_1972
  [18]
• Take Cover: Tim Hecker — Ravedeath, 1972Pitchfork2011-02

  Short Q&A on the MIT piano-drop cover art and his obsession with digital garbage.

  • article: https://pitchfork.com/features/take-cover/8635-take-cover-tim-hecker-iravedeath-1972i/
  [20]

Relations

• Daniel Lopatincollaborated2012-11 –

  Instrumental Tourist — the November 2012 SSTUDIOS collaboration released on Lopatin's Software Recording Co. imprint.

  [7][16]
• Ben Frostcollaborated2011 –

  Engineered Ravedeath, 1972 at Fríkirkjan; part of the recurring Reykjavík–Montreal collaborator circle.

  [38][25][14]
• Paul Corleycollaborated2013 –

  Virgins-era collaborator; part of the recurring collaborator circle.

  [38][25][14]
• Kara-Lis Coverdalecollaborated2013 –

  Part of the recurring collaborator circle around the Virgins-era and later records.

  [38][25][14]
• Jóhann Jóhannssoncollaborated2018 –

  Part of the recurring collaborator circle; credited with urging restraint on the Konoyo sessions.

  [39][25][14]

Indexed in

• Daniel Lopatincollaborated

  Instrumental Tourist (Software Recording Co., 2012).

  cited by the Daniel Lopatin index

Claims

• factTimothy D. Hecker was born in Vancouver, British Columbia; reference sources give the date July 17, 1974, and describe him as the son of two art teachers.[14][13][16]
• factHe completed his undergraduate degree at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, then moved to Montreal in 1998 for graduate study at Concordia University, where AllMusic describes his field as digital acoustics and software.[26][14][16]
• factThrough the late 1990s and into 2001 he recorded minimal techno as Jetone inside Montreal's glitch scene, releasing the album Autumnumonia on Pitchcadet in 2000 and Ultramarin on Force Inc. on August 21, 2001.[16][36][25]
• factBy 2001 he had become disenchanted with the Jetone project's direction and began releasing under his own name.[14][16]
• factHis debut album under his own name, Haunt Me, Haunt Me Do It Again, was released November 20, 2001 on Substractif, a sublabel of the Montreal experimental label Alien8 Recordings; Alien8 reissued it on vinyl in 2010 and Kranky reissued a remastered edition in 2018.[9][14][12]
• factHe followed the debut with My Love Is Rotten to the Core (2002), Radio Amor (2003, on Mille Plateaux), and Mirages (2004, back on Alien8).[15][16][14]
• factAlongside music he worked as a policy analyst for the Canadian government in the early 2000s, leaving that employment in 2006.[14]
• factIn 2006 he enrolled at McGill University for a PhD in Art History and Communication Studies, lectured on sound culture there, and completed a dissertation, 'The era of megaphonics: on the productivity of loud sound, 1880–1930,' published in 2014.[19][17][14][22]
• factHarmony in Ultraviolet (2006) opened his long affiliation with the Chicago label Kranky; Pitchfork later ranked it among the best ambient albums.[14][16]
• factRavedeath, 1972 was built from a single day's recording — July 21, 2010 — on the pipe organ at Fríkirkjan, a small wooden church in Reykjavík, engineered with Ben Frost; Hecker then spent roughly a month mixing and editing the material in Montreal, calling the result 'a hybrid of a studio and a live record.'[18][23][14]
• factRavedeath, 1972 was released February 14, 2011 on Kranky and drew universal critical acclaim.[14][18]
• factIts cover photograph shows MIT students' first ritual piano drop in 1972; Hecker found the image while searching for pictures of destroyed instruments, licensed it from the MIT museum, printed it, and re-photographed it on film.[20]
• factRavedeath, 1972 won the Juno Award for Electronic Album of the Year in 2012 and was longlisted for the 2011 Polaris Music Prize.[10][14]
• factLater in 2011 Kranky released Dropped Pianos, a companion set of sketch pieces from the Ravedeath period.[15][24]
• factInstrumental Tourist, a collaboration with Daniel Lopatin (Oneohtrix Point Never), was released November 20, 2012 on Lopatin's Software Recording Co. imprint as the first SSTUDIOS collaboration; it grew out of improvisational jam sessions at Mexican Summer Studios in Brooklyn in April 2012.[7][16][14]
• factVirgins was released October 14, 2013 on Kranky (Paper Bag in Canada) and was recorded live with chamber players in Reykjavík, Montreal, and Seattle — his first album organized around live performance rather than studio process, with Paul Corley engineering and Kara-Lis Coverdale among the players.[37][38][25]
• factHe signed to 4AD, announced in December 2015, and released Love Streams on April 8, 2016 — his first album to build vocals into the finished music.[45][6][28]
• factLove Streams grew from 15th-century choral scores by Josquin des Prez, recomposed with Jóhann Jóhannsson, performed by the Icelandic Choir Ensemble, recorded at Greenhouse Studios in Reykjavík across 2014–2015 sessions, and reprocessed through Melodyne.[31][28][46][29][14]
• factKonoyo was drawn from late-2017 sessions at Jiunzan Mandala-Temple Kanzouin, a Buddhist temple in Tokyo's Nerima ward, with members of the gagaku ensemble Tokyo Gakuso — a group assembled by musician Motonori Miura — where Hecker acted as a de facto bandleader in call-and-response improvisation.[40][39][33][32][42]
• factKonoyo was released September 28, 2018 on Kranky, marking his return to the label after the 4AD record.[32][42]
• factAnoyo followed on May 10, 2019 on Kranky — a companion drawn from the same gagaku sessions, presented as a more naturalist counterpart: 'ano yo' names the afterlife against Konoyo's 'this world.'[44][5][34][40]
• factThe gagaku direction was instigated in part by the Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, a friend and collaborator who encouraged Hecker toward restraint and toward the ensemble, and who died before Konoyo's release.[33][39]
• factHis first original screen score was The North Water, the BBC Two five-part Arctic whaling drama adapted from Ian McGuire's novel; written through the 2020 pandemic winter in Montreal with sessions including the Église du Très-Saint-Nom-de-Jésus, the score album was released in September 2021 on Invada and Lakeshore Records.[3][47][15]
• factHe composed the music for Luzifer, Peter Brunner's Austrian horror film produced by Ulrich Seidl Filmproduktion, which premiered in competition at the Locarno Festival on August 11, 2021.[11][48]
• factHe scored Brandon Cronenberg's Infinity Pool, which premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival; the 22-track soundtrack album was released by Milan Records on January 27, 2023.[8][48]
• factHis earlier feature scoring credit includes the 2016 independent film The Free World, announced around his 4AD signing.[48][45]
• factHe also scored Guillaume Nicloux's La Tour (The Lockdown Tower); pieces written for it appear among the soundtrack-derived works on Shards.[35][4]
• factNo Highs, his eleventh studio album, was released April 7, 2023 on Kranky and features modal saxophone by Colin Stetson.[2][49]
• factNo Highs was nominated for the Juno Award for Electronic Album of the Year in 2024.[10]
• factShards, released February 21, 2025 on Kranky, collects pieces originally written for his film and television scores of the previous half-decade, including Infinity Pool, The North Water, Luzifer, and La Tour.[4][41][35]
• factHis collaborative discography also includes Fantasma Parastasie (2008) with Aidan Baker on Alien8.[15][14]
• factBy the mid-2010s he was based in Los Angeles — Resident Advisor and Interview described him as an LA resident in 2016 — while remaining identified with Montreal's music community.[29][31][27]
• factAround Ravedeath he was named to NPR's list of 100 composers under 40.[29]
• stated beliefHe describes restraint as a life project — 'just to make less' — questioning what harmonic saturation means now that pop and EDM maximalism is the norm.[32]
• stated beliefHe argues that digital abundance makes constraint the central compositional problem: 'I am just lost with infinite choices... constraint really matters, and omitting really matters, and putting on horse blinders really matters.'[27]
• stated beliefHe defends the album as a cohesive long-form object — 'a resistance against short, song-based forms of sonic expression' — built through iterative overlaying, reducing, and transforming until pieces blur into an arc.[24]
• stated beliefHe framed Ravedeath, 1972 around digital over-consumption and the ritual destruction of music — mountains of bulldozed CDs, the MIT piano drop — holding that music is simultaneously vital and 'completely taken for granted.'[18][20]
• stated beliefHaving lost his religion, he describes his work as 'pagan music that dances on the ashes of a burnt church' — experimental music built on pillaged sacred tropes for the unconverted.[28]
• stated beliefOn process he says he likes to damage or 'demolish' a sound while leaving traces of its source — 'a middlebrow brutalist' — treating digital audio as an elastic medium for slow, painterly transformation.[24]
• stated beliefHe names a simple goal for the work: forming 'vivid pictures with sound.'[29]
• stated beliefNo Highs is framed in his own release copy as 'a beacon of unease against the deluge of false positive corporate ambient currently in vogue,' with 'negation' named as a muse — 'an escape from escapism.'[2]
• stated beliefOf processing source material into his own music he says 'it's a feeling more than anything... it questions the idea of composition. It questions the idea of originally writing something.'[43]
• stated beliefHe describes a perfectionist's distance from his catalog: 'There's never been one record I've been happy with' — peace, not happiness, is the word he reaches for.[30]
• stated beliefOn talking about his work he concedes 'maybe I should never do interviews... there's a limit to what you can talk about,' while still giving interviews generously.[23]
• stated beliefHe treats titles, artwork, and presentation — once begrudged in the name of 'radically pure sound' — as 'this poetic moment to kind of finish a project that's primarily sonic.'[26]
• stated beliefHe approached the gagaku sessions as a deliberately non-Western puzzle — 'pulling back the layers and leaving things and not being scared about making things that are more barren.'[33][32]
• stated beliefOf Infinity Pool he describes developing 'a speculative sonic palette for this imaginary island state,' including 'a type of cicada-laden backwoods Baltic banjo.'[8]
• stated beliefHe described The North Water as written through 'arguably one of the darkest winters of some memory in Montreal,' adding depth and texture to 'a five-hour doomed arctic journey.'[47]
• patternA repeating method across four albums: record acoustic players in resonant real spaces — church organ, chamber ensemble, choir, gagaku orchestra — then degrade and rebuild the material digitally in the studio.[18][38][27][42]
• patternHis work is made inside a recurring circle — Ben Frost, Paul Corley, Kara-Lis Coverdale, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Daniel Lopatin — mostly within the Bedroom Community / Reykjavík network, even though the records carry his name alone.[38][25][14]
• patternKranky has been his durable home since 2006; the 4AD release of Love Streams was a single-album detour, after which Konoyo, Anoyo, No Highs, and Shards all returned to Kranky.[45][44][2][4]
• patternHis live shows are reported as extremely loud and staged in darkness or colored fog — immersion and disorientation as performance method rather than a band on a lit stage.[16][29][14]
• patternSacred buildings recur as recording sites: Fríkirkjan church for Ravedeath, the Kanzouin Buddhist temple for the gagaku sessions, and Montreal's Église du Très-Saint-Nom-de-Jésus for The North Water.[18][33][3]
• speculationThe Konoyo/Anoyo pairing — 'this world' and 'that world,' the afterlife — reads elegiacally given that Jóhann Jóhannsson, who pushed the project, died months before Konoyo's release; the sources confirm his instigating role but never establish the diptych as a memorial.[33][39][40][44]
• speculationNo public record explains why the 4AD arrangement lasted exactly one album; the return to Kranky suggests a one-off experiment rather than a falling-out, but the mechanics are undocumented.[45][44][6]
• speculationThe Free World scoring credit was announced in 2015 and is listed among his film work, yet no soundtrack album was issued and the cited record does not confirm how much of his music the released film retained.[45][48]

Sources

1. Tim Hecker — official site (Sunblind)sunblind.net · subject controlled · webpage · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

   The subject's official site: releases, live dates, and representation contacts.

2. No Highs | Tim HeckerBandcamp (Tim Hecker) · 2023 · subject controlled · webpage · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

   The artist's own Bandcamp page, carrying the label copy that frames the record as 'a beacon of unease against the deluge of false positive corporate ambient.'

3. The North Water (Original Score) | Tim HeckerBandcamp (Tim Hecker) · 2021 · subject controlled · webpage · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

   Bandcamp release page with full session credits, including recording at Église du Très-Saint-Nom-de-Jésus in Montreal.

4. Shards | Tim HeckerBandcamp (Tim Hecker) · 2025 · subject controlled · webpage · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

   Bandcamp page describing Shards as pieces originally written for film and TV soundtracks including Infinity Pool, The North Water, Luzifer, and La Tour.

5. Anoyo | Tim HeckerBandcamp (Tim Hecker) · 2019 · subject controlled · webpage · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z
6. Tim Hecker — Love Streams (EAD3614A)4AD · primary record · webpage · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

   Label's release page: April 8, 2016, with the official description quoting Hecker's 'liturgical aesthetics after Yeezus' and 'transcendental voice in the age of auto-tune' framings.

7. Instrumental Tourist | Tim Hecker and Daniel LopatinSoftware Recording Co. · 2012 · primary record · webpage · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

   Label Bandcamp page for the Hecker–Lopatin collaboration.

8. Infinity Pool — Music by Tim HeckerMilan Records · primary record · webpage · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

   Label page for the soundtrack album, carrying a statement from Hecker about the score's 'speculative sonic palette.'

9. Haunt Me, Haunt Me, Do It Again — Tim Hecker — Substractifelectrocd (Substractif/Alien8 catalog) · primary record · webpage · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

   Label catalog entry for the debut album, noting Hecker's Jetone alias.

10. Electronic Album of the Year — award archiveThe JUNO Awards · primary record · webpage · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Official award-category archive listing Ravedeath, 1972 as the 2012 winner and No Highs as a 2024 nominee.

11. Luzifer — Ulrich Seidl FilmproduktionUlrich Seidl Filmproduktion · primary record · webpage · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Production company's film page crediting Tim Hecker with music for Peter Brunner's Luzifer.

12. Alien8 Recordings (archived label homepage)Alien8 Recordings via the Wayback Machine · archive · webpage · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    February 2011 capture of the defunct Montreal label's site, promoting the vinyl reissue of Haunt Me.

13. Tim Hecker (Q3068648)Wikidata · reference · dataset · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z
14. Tim HeckerWikipedia · reference · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    The birth date shown carries a citation-needed flag; used for discovery and cross-checked against interviews and label records.

15. Tim Hecker discographyWikipedia · reference · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z
16. Tim Hecker — BiographyAllMusic · reference · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Staff biography covering the Jetone debut, the Alien8 years, and the move to Kranky.

17. The era of megaphonics: on the productivity of loud sound, 1880–1930eScholarship@McGill (McGill University) · 2014 · first person · book · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Hecker's doctoral dissertation in Art History and Communication Studies at McGill, on loud sound as a productive force.

18. Tim Hecker Talks Ravedeath, 1972Exclaim! · 2011 · interview · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z
19. Bring the noiseThe McGill Daily · 2011 · interview · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Campus-paper interview on his PhD research into the history of loud sound and its relation to his music.

20. Take Cover: Tim Hecker — Ravedeath, 1972Pitchfork · 2011 · interview · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Short interview about the album art: the first MIT piano drop, licensed from the MIT museum.

21. Tim Hecker: Imaginary countriesResident Advisor · 2012 · interview · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z
22. Darkness More Than Anything: Tim Hecker InterviewedThe Quietus · 2012 · interview · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Interview by a fellow McGill communications PhD student who had TA'd Hecker's sound studies course.

23. Tim Hecker: Reluctant Neo EnoALARM Magazine · 2011 · interview · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z
24. Tim Hecker Builds Mountains with SoundVICE · 2013 · interview · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z
25. Tim Hecker: Attack of the DronesSPIN · 2013 · interview · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Studio-visit profile in Montreal covering the Jetone years and the making of Virgins.

26. Tim Hecker's Angels and DemonsInterview Magazine · 2013 · interview · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z
27. 'I am lost with infinite choices': Tim Hecker on the information overload of Love StreamsFACT Magazine · 2016 · interview · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z
28. Tim Hecker: 'I make pagan music that dances on the ashes of a burnt church'The Guardian · 2016 · interview · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z
29. EX.298 Tim HeckerResident Advisor · 2016 · interview · audio · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    RA Exchange podcast episode: Love Streams, Melodyne-processed liturgical music, and 'vivid pictures with sound.'

30. Tim Hecker: 'There's never been one record I've been happy with.'Cyclic Defrost · 2016 · interview · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z
31. Tim Hecker's Peace of MindInterview Magazine · 2016 · interview · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z
32. Electronic artist Tim Hecker delves into ancient Japanese court music and negative space on 'Konoyo'The Japan Times · 2018 · interview · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z
33. Tim Hecker Crashes Into FORM Arcosanti With Japan-Inspired Album KonoyoPhoenix New Times · 2019 · interview · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z
34. Tim Hecker 'Anoyo' InterviewSPIN · 2019 · interview · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z
35. Three Questions With Tim HeckerSynth History · 2025 · interview · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z
36. Jetone: UltramarinPitchfork · 2001 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Contemporary review of the second Jetone album.

37. Tim Hecker Announces New Album, VirginsPitchfork · 2013 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z
38. Tim Hecker: VirginsPitchfork · 2013 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z
39. Tim Hecker: KonoyoPitchfork · 2018 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Review detailing the late-2017 temple sessions, Motonori Miura's ensemble assembly, and Jóhann Jóhannsson's encouragement toward restraint.

40. Tim Hecker: AnoyoPitchfork · 2019 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Review naming the session site as Jiunzan Mandala-Temple Kanzouin and explaining the Konoyo/Anoyo 'this world'/'that world' pairing.

41. Tim Hecker: ShardsPitchfork · 2025 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z
42. First Listen: Tim Hecker — KonoyoNPR · 2018 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z
43. Tim Hecker's 'This Life' Maps Japanese Classical Music Onto Digital EmotionsNPR · 2018 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Track premiere carrying Hecker's comments on processing as 'a feeling' that questions composition itself.

44. Tim Hecker to release Konoyo companion LP, AnoyoFACT Magazine · 2019 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z
45. Tim Hecker signs to 4AD, plans new album for 2016FACT Magazine · 2015 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z
46. Tim Hecker announces first album for 4AD, Love StreamsFACT Magazine · 2016 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Announcement carrying the Greenhouse Studios recording credit and the Icelandic Choir Ensemble personnel.

47. Tim Hecker TV scoreScene Point Blank · 2021 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Report on The North Water score, quoting Hecker's description of writing through a pandemic Montreal winter.

48. 'Infinity Pool' Soundtrack Album DetailsFilm Music Reporter · 2023 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Names The North Water, Luzifer, and The Free World among Hecker's scoring credits.

49. Tim Hecker announces new LP 'No Highs,' shares 'Lotus Light'BrooklynVegan · 2023 · reporting · article · accessed 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

Coverage and method

Scope as of

2026-09-17T00:00:00Z

Coverage supplied by the publisher

• biography
• work
• philosophy
• beliefs
• media
• projects

Method

public-person-index-v1

Tool

soulscrape

Contributors

• Soulscrape research workflow

Assembled

2026-09-17T01:00:00Z

Human review

No review status or review date is supplied. An assembly timestamp does not establish human review.

Open questions

See the supplied open questions

Open questions

• The July 17, 1974 birth date rests on secondary listings — Wikipedia flags it citation-needed — and no primary record was located in the cited sources.
• Sources describe him as 'debuting' as Jetone in 1996 yet date the first confirmed Jetone album to 2000; what the 1996 activity or release comprised is unclear.
• The Free World (2016) was announced as a scoring credit and is listed among his film work, but no soundtrack album exists and the cited record does not confirm how much of his music the released film used.
• Current base of operations: mid-2010s interviews describe an LA resident while profiles and label copy keep Montreal ties; the present split is undocumented.
• Album counts differ between sources (eleven or twelve studio albums, more if Jetone records and collaborations are counted) — the numbering depends on unstated counting rules.
• No public explanation was found for the single-album 4AD arrangement between long Kranky affiliations.
• Wikipedia's album article dates the Ravedeath Juno win to March 2011 while the Juno archive places it in the 2012 award year; the index follows the Juno record.
• Harmony in Ultraviolet's standing as one of the greatest ambient albums is cited here through Wikipedia's report of a Pitchfork list rather than the list itself.