Virgins (album)

2013 studio album by Tim Hecker

Virgins

Studio album by

Tim Hecker

Released| October 14, 2013
Recorded| 2012
Studio| Greenhouse Studios
(Reykjavík, Iceland)
Avast! Recording Company
(Seattle, Washington)
EMPAC
(Troy, New York)
Genre|

* Electroacoustic
* drone
* ambient
* experimental

Length| 48:46
Label|

* Kranky
* Paper Bag

Tim Hecker chronology
| Instrumental Tourist
(2012)  | Virgins
(2013)  | Love Streams
(2016)

|
|

Singles from  Virgins

1. "Virginal II"
Released: August 27, 2013
2. "Black Refraction"
Released: September 26, 2013

Virgins is the seventh studio album by Canadian electronic musician Tim Hecker, released on October 14, 2013 by Kranky and Paper Bag Records.[1][2]

## Recording and production

[edit]

Virgins was recorded during three periods in 2012, mostly in Reykjavik, Montreal and Seattle, using ensembles in live performance. A statement on Hecker's Bandcamp page elaborates: "The sound palette of this work is wider, almost 'percussive' and tighter sounding than previous works. While this album remains committed to a painterly form of musical abstraction, it is also a record of restrained composition recorded live primarily in intimate studio rooms. This record employs woodwinds, piano and synthesizers towards an effort at doing what digital music does not do naturally—making music that is out of time, out of tune and out of phase."[3]

In an interview with Ted Davis, Hecker said, "I did a record, called  Virgins, that was antagonistic to the idea of ambient. I was trying to make rhythmical, staccato, aggressive blasts that tried to not have it pigeonholed in that way, or kind of went beyond the confines of that category."[4]

The image on the album cover is a reference to a famous image of Abdou Hussain Saad Faleh being tortured by members of the United States Army at Abu Ghraib Prison in 2003.[5]

## Critical reception

[edit]

Professional ratingsAggregate scores

Source| Rating
AnyDecentMusic?| 8.1/10[6]
Metacritic| 87/100[7]
Review scores
Source| Rating
AllMusic| [8]
The A.V. Club| A−[9]
Mojo| [10]
MusicOMH| [11]
NME| 8/10[12]
Pitchfork| 8.3/10[13]
Q| [14]
Resident Advisor| 4.0/5[15]
Spin| 9/10[16]
Uncut| 8/10[17]

Virgins received widespread critical acclaim upon its release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 87, based on 26 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim", and becoming Hecker's highest scoring album on the site.[7]

Mike Powell of Pitchfork praised the album, stating, "This is music that benefits from being heard loud and/or on headphones in the same way couches are best experienced by actually sitting down in them instead of just brushing your fingers against the upholstery as you leave the room. Like a lot of Ben Frost’s albums (or something like Swans’ The Seer), Virgins feels possessed by the idea that no advancements in society or technology will ever shake our primal reactions to fear, wonder, awe and what in a more naïve era used to be called the sublime. And while it’s a fallacy to think that hyperseriousness is the only way to strike people at their core, it’s still inspiring to hear an artist—especially one who started out as mellow as Hecker—double down and make a statement so confrontational. Once haunted, now he’s the one who haunts."[13]

Philip Sherburne of Spin gave the album a favorable review, stating, "Hecker's abstractions have never been more expressive than they are on Virgins, and his containers have never been more fraught. His main compositional principle might have come from the late philosopher Marshall Berman: All that is solid melts into air. There’s an exhilarating bleakness at the center of Virgins — the hollow at the heart of all things, nibbling inexorably away."[16]

Virgins was a longlisted nominee for the 2014 Polaris Music Prize.[18] The album placed fifth in The Wire magazine's annual critics' poll.[19]

## Track listing

[edit]

All tracks are written by Tim Hecker.

No.| Title| Length

|
|

1.| "Prism"| 2:53
2.| "Virginal I"| 6:16
3.| "Radiance"| 3:22
4.| "Live Room"| 7:02
5.| "Live Room Out"| 2:37
6.| "Virginal II"| 5:23
7.| "Black Refraction"| 3:33
8.| "Incense at Abu Ghraib"| 1:53
9.| "Amps, Drugs, Harmonium"| 3:03
10.| "Stigmata I"| 2:18
11.| "Stigmata II"| 3:56
12.| "Stab Variation"| 6:30
Total length:| 48:46

## Personnel

[edit]

* Tim Hecker – mixing
* Ben Frost – performing, engineering
* Grímur Helgason – performing
* Kara-Lis Coverdale – performing
* Paul Matthew Moore – performing
* Valgeir Sigurðsson – performing, mixing
* Paul Corley – engineering
* Randall Dunn – engineering
* Mandy Parnell – mastering
* David Nakamoto – design, layout

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "KRANK183 – Tim Hecker "Virgins"". Kranky. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
2. ^ "Tim Hecker Announces New Album "Virgins"". Paper Bag Records. Retrieved November 26, 2013.
3. ^ "Virgins: by Tim Hecker". Bandcamp.com. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
4. ^ "Tim Hecker Isn't Afraid To Slow Down". Stereogum.com. Retrieved February 21, 2025.
5. ^ Bath, Tristan (October 14, 2013). "Tim Hecker — Virgins". The Quietus. Retrieved June 24, 2025.
6. ^ "Virgins by Tim Hecker reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
7. ^ a b "Reviews for Virgins by Tim Hecker". Metacritic. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
8. ^ Jurek, Thom. "Virgins – Tim Hecker". AllMusic. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
9. ^ Mejia, Paula (October 22, 2013). "Tim Hecker: Virgins". The A.V. Club. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
10. ^ "Tim Hecker: Virgins". Mojo (240): 86. November 2013.
11. ^ Mainzer, Jordan (October 14, 2013). "Tim Hecker – Virgins". MusicOMH. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
12. ^ Gardner, Noel (October 14, 2013). "Tim Hecker – 'Virgins'". NME. Archived from the original on February 14, 2016. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
13. ^ a b Powell, Mike (October 15, 2013). "Tim Hecker: Virgins". Pitchfork. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
14. ^ "Tim Hecker: Virgins". Q (329): 107. December 2013.
15. ^ Maleney, Ian (October 14, 2013). "Tim Hecker – Virgins". Resident Advisor. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
16. ^ a b Sherburne, Philip (October 15, 2013). "Tim Hecker Conducts Harrowing, Thrilling Drone Warfare on His New Masterpiece, 'Virgins'". Spin. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
17. ^ "Tim Hecker: Virgins". Uncut (198): 72. November 2013.
18. ^ "Polaris Music Prize announces 2014 long list". Aux. June 19, 2014. Archived from the original on July 3, 2014. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
19. ^ "2013 Rewind: Releases of the Year 1–50". The Wire. No. 359\. London. January 2014. p. 33 – via Exact Editions. (subscription required)

* v
* t
* e

Tim Hecker

Studio albums|

* Haunt Me, Haunt Me Do It Again
* Radio Amor
* Mirages
* Harmony in Ultraviolet
* An Imaginary Country
* Ravedeath, 1972
* Virgins
* Love Streams
* Konoyo
* Anoyo
* No Highs

EPs|

* Trade Winds, White Noise
* My Love Is Rotten to the Core
* Mort Aux Vaches
* Dropped Pianos

Collaborations|

* Instrumental Tourist

Related topics|

* Films scored by Tim Hecker

Category

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz release group

|

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