A Shadow in Time
Two side-long movements of decaying tape loops and vintage synthesizers. A fragile, dust-caked eulogy that stretches time to its absolute breaking point.
January 20, 2017 · 2062
Two side-long movements of decaying tape loops and vintage synthesizers. A fragile, dust-caked eulogy that stretches time to its absolute breaking point.
January 20, 2017 · 2062
Tape loops degrade in real time here, turning a slow-motion eulogy into a physical, crumbling monument of sound. This release perfected the art of the beautiful decay, capturing the exact point where magnetic tape surrenders to dust. You are placed inside the hum of a vintage synthesizer, listening to melodies that fray at the edges and stretch until they nearly snap. It is a quiet, deliberate turning point that traded his earlier, grander loops for something far more intimate and fragile. Every hiss and crackle feels like a deliberate breath, transforming a simple eulogy into a tangible, slow-fading reality.
“There is so much in the stillness of William Basinski’s music, layer upon layer of musical information that finds a richness of harmony and melody in the very immobility it often describes”Read review
“Sculpts samples, drones and feedback loops into soundscapes rich in melancholic atmosphere”Read review
“Among his most entrancing work”Read review
“William Basinski has created yet another outstanding work of art with A Shadow in Time, an audio sculpture of serenity and bliss to begin 2017 and put what was a saddening year for music to bed”Read review
“Basinski tries not merely to locate Bowie’s ghost in the machine, but to find its cross-dressing, orange-haired, anisocoric-eyed soul locked somewhere inside the hard electronic casing of the world”
“Contains some of his strongest work since The Disintegration Loops introduced him to the world at large”Read review
“You wonder if you’ve been taken somewhere, or if you’ve been changed in some way”Read review
“Channeling his classic Disintegration Loops, William Basinski’s A Shadow in Time contemplates life and death with great clarity”Read review
“The two-track A Shadow in Time shows that William Basinski’s technique can yield a wide range of results”Read review
“Your enjoyment may depend on whether you feel the Bowie angle adds or detracts”Read review
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