7. Tim Hecker, An Imaginary Country (‘100 Years Ago’)

File under: electro/shoegaze/symphonic. The opening track cuts like ice, slicing open the album with its beautifully vicious, distorted punches of notes; a cycle which is returned to with the closing track ‘200 Years Ago’. In between the album is, as the title suggests, an exploration of place through electronic music; as I said previously, “each track is a geographic exploration within the symphonic whole, so underneath the semi-oppressive, semi-crystalline layers of shoegaze you hear soft pulses in ‘Inland Shore’, marshy squiggles in ‘Pond Life’ and an eerie tone to ‘Borderlands’.”

They are short and varied enough to keep the record interesting and accessible, but they all pull together into a sharply distinctive and totally encompassing sound. I’ve been working my way through his back catalogue since picking this up on the strength of ‘Paragon Point’ (and the recommendation of Geek Down), and while a lot of the other stuff has the same wall-of-sound crunchiness, and is just as interesting in other ways, it’s the exquisitely textured geography (or rather, psychogeography) of this album which sets it apart. Especially suitable for the current weather.