Ambient music is often presented as something meant to be unobtrusive. This is furthest from accurate on Tourist, the collaboration between ambient/electronic mainstays Daniel Lopatin (of the synth-heavy Oneohtrix Point Never) and Tim Hecker. For an ambient record, this is busy. Missing is any sense of serenity or pensive rumination, replaced instead with churning drones punctuated intermittently by bursts of static or sine waves. Opening track “Uptown Psychedelia” bristles with electronic crunch and subtle, wavering synth lines, like an angry modem rendered as an art installation piece. This formula — layered synth and electronic noises — is repeated throughout the album, creating through a repetition of ideas, if not sounds, the ambient landscape the genre promises. Sadly, this collaboration is a bit unbalanced, coming off more as a Tim Hecker record than a synthesis of both artists.
Sign up. We hope you like us, but if you don't, you can unsubscribe by following the links in the email, or by dropping us a note at leo@leoweekly.com.
Signup
By clicking “subscribe” above, you consent to allow us to contact you via email, and store your information using our third-party Service Provider. To see more information about how your information is stored and privacy protected, visit our policies page.
Subscribe to LEO Weekly Newsletters
Sign up. We hope you like us, but if you don't, you can unsubscribe by following the links in the email, or by dropping us a note at leo@leoweekly.com.
To sign up now, enter your email address in the field below and click the Subscribe button.
By clicking “Subscribe” above, you consent to allow us to contact you via email, and store your information using our third-party Service Provider. To see more information about how your information is stored and privacy protected, visit our policies page.
