Konoyo

Konoyo is the ninth studio album by Canadian electronic music musician Tim Hecker, released on September 28, 2018 on Kranky and Sunblind Music. A majority of the album was made from Hecker's visits to Japan, where he worked with a gagaku ensemble, Tokyo Gakuso, in Jiunzan Mandala-Temple Kanzouin on the outskirts of Tokyo.^[2]

Konoyo
Studio album by Tim Hecker
Released	September 28, 2018
Studio	Various Studio Atlio Jiunzan Mandala-Temple Kanzouin, Tokyo Sunblind Studios
Genre	Electronic ambient dark ambient drone gagaku sound collage[1]
Length	59:06
Label	Kranky
Producer	Tim Hecker
Tim Hecker chronology
Love Streams (2016) Konoyo (2018) Anoyo (2019)
Singles from Konoyo
"This Life" Released: July 31, 2018 "Keyed Out" Released: September 12, 2018

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	7.7/10[3]
Metacritic	82/100[4]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[5]
Drowned in Sound	8/10[6]
Exclaim!	9/10[7]
The Guardian	[8]
Mojo	[9]
Pitchfork	8.5/10[10]
PopMatters	9/10[11]
Resident Advisor	4.2/5[12]
Rolling Stone	[13]
Uncut	7/10[14]

Konoyo received 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 82, based on 18 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".^[4]

Accolades

Publication	Accolade	Rank	Ref.
Crack Magazine	Top 50 Albums of 2018	26	[15]
Gaffa	Top 30 Albums of 2018	13	[16]
The 405	Top 50 Albums of 2018	6	[17]
PopMatters	Top 70 Albums of 2018	28	[18]
PopMatters	Top 20 Avant-Garde and Experimental Albums of 2018	4	[19]
Sputnikmusic	Top 50 Albums of 2018	7	[20]
Tiny Mix Tapes	Top 50 Albums of 2018	21	[21]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"This Life"	8:42
2.	"In Death Valley"	5:36
3.	"Is a Rose Petal of the Dying Crimson Light"	3:27
4.	"Keyed Out"	9:46
5.	"In Mother Earth Phase"	10:26
6.	"A Sodium Codec Haze"	5:46
7.	"Across to Anoyo"	15:26
Total length:		59:06

All tracks are written by Tim Hecker

Notes

• All tracks are stylized in sentence case, except for "In Death Valley" and "Across to Anoyo". For example, "This Life" is stylized as "This life".

Personnel

• Mariel Roberts – cello
• Tim Hecker – computer, electric guitar, synth, writer, producer
• Kara-Lis Coverdale – keyboards
• Yoshiyuki Izaki – percussion (uchimono)
• Takuya Koketsu – woodwind (ryuteki)
• Motonori Miura – woodwind (hichiriki)
• Fumiya Otonashi – shō
• Jake Viator – transfer
• Akihiro Iizuka – engineer
• Ben Frost – engineer
• Toshihiko Kasai – engineer
• Teo Schifferli – design, layout
• Tobias Spichtig – artwork, photography

References

1. Carr, Paul (December 7, 2018). "The 25 Best Electronic Albums of 2018". PopMatters. Retrieved August 21, 2022.
2. "Tim Hecker returns to Kranky for new album, Konoyo". Retrieved September 29, 2018.
3. "Konoyo by Tim Hecker reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved September 7, 2019.
4. "Konoyo by Tim Hecker Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
5. Simpson, Paul. "Konoyo – Tim Hecker". AllMusic. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
6. Bland, Benjamin (October 1, 2018). "Album Review: Tim Hecker – Konoyo". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on September 11, 2019. Retrieved September 7, 2019.
7. Hayes, Bryon (September 25, 2018). "Tim Hecker: Konoyo". Exclaim!. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
8. Beaumont-Thomas, Ben (September 28, 2018). "Tim Hecker: Konoyo review – Japanese forms abstracted by ambient dystopias". The Guardian. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
9. Chick, Stevie (December 2018). "Tim Hecker: Konoyo". Mojo (301): 93.
10. Haver-Currin, Grayson (September 28, 2018). "Tim Hecker: Konoyo". Pitchfork. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
11. Stasis, Spyros (September 24, 2018). "Tim Hecker Explores the Negative Space with 'Konoyo'". PopMatters. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
12. Beta, Andy (September 26, 2018). "Tim Hecker – Konoyo". Resident Advisor. Retrieved September 7, 2019.
13. Weingarten, Christopher R. (September 28, 2018). "Review: Tim Hecker's 'Konoyo' Turns Japanese Woodwinds Into Powerful Ambient". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 7, 2019.
14. Robinson, John (November 2018). "Tim Hecker: Konoyo". Uncut (258): 30.
15. "The Top 50 Albums of 2018". Crackmagazine.com. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
16. "Redaktionens Val" [Editors' Choice]. Gaffa. Århus: Gaffa A/S. December 2018. p. 38. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
17. "The 405's Top 50 Albums of 2018". Thefourohfive.com. December 20, 2018. Archived from the original on March 31, 2019. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
18. "The 70 Best Albums of 2018". PopMatters.com. December 20, 2018. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
19. Harrison, Noah; Fitzgerald, Colin (December 17, 2018). "The 20 Best Avant-Garde and Experimental Albums of 2018". PopMatters.com. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
20. Spencer, Trey (December 19, 2018). "Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2018". Sputnikmusic.com. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
21. "Favorite 50 Music Releases of 2018". Tinymixtapes.com. December 17, 2018. Retrieved February 20, 2019.