Hecq: Night Falls (Remastered) (Hymen)

Ben
Lukas Boysen released Night Falls as Hecq in 2008. At the time it was
a considerable shift in focus for the project, moving away from the
post-industrial breaks and IDM beatmaking of his previous several
albums and instead crafting a hazy, mostly beatless ambient sprawl.
Hymen has remastered and reissued the record, and it sounds just as
fresh 8 years later. The tracks of Night Falls are lush and
evocative. It plays like a score, with swelling strings, foggy pads,
and dense effects, a surprisingly emotive spread considering Hymen’s
usual penchant for noise and discord. Some of the manipulated grind
of the album is distinctly Hecq, however.

night falls (remastered) by hecq

The prolonged timestretch
of noise that falls in the center of “dis,” but rather than using
that to volley into skittering, detailed rhythm, it’s a red herring
for some relative restraint. There is a haunted reverberation about
the open spaces of night falls, like the gliding string loops of
“aback” or the delicate Budd-like piano of “Bending Time.” At
times the fog is opaque enough to suggest the distant spirit of The
Caretaker, but Night Falls is cinematic more than anything else.
“above” is imbued with a haunting majesty while “i am you”
closes the proceedings with a dramatic climax that would make In The
Nursery envious. Christoph Berg’s reworking of “night falls”
works as a coda, a handsome bookend that ends softly and sweetly.
Fans of Murcof, Bersarin Quartett, and Ben Frost should revisit this
understated and thankfully remastered beauty.

Buy it: Hymen Bandcamp