An Imaginary Country finds Tim Hecker exploring brand new tonal territory, not to mention some nasty emotional nether regions. Eschewing the trademark gnarled guitar streams of his previous work, he instead opts for a heavily processed Mellotron organ and a frosty sense of doom. The pace is quick, the melodies are distant, and the results are unsettlingly beautiful. It‘s as though the album was conceived of, written for, and performed alone in a Gothic cathedral… during a nuclear winter. Not that An Imaginary Country isn’t a lovely record—Hecker’s music has always been beautifully haunting. His latest offering only proves that he’s found yet another way to send a chill down our spines.