William Basinski Debuts Haunting New Tape Loop Release, “The Deluge (The Denouement)”

Classically trained composer William Basinski—most famous for his 2002/3 experimental series The Disintegration Loops, which was in part a response to the 9/11 attacks—has announced a vinyl-only follow-up album to his April 2015 release, Cascade. It's called The Deluge and today The FADER is premiering the absorbing title track,"The Deluge (The Denouement).” A spiral of piano tape loops—recordings made to cassette tape, and manipulated into sections to create repeating rhythms—layer with orchestral crescendos that gradually unwind until they become nothing more than haunting reverberations.

"In The Deluge I begin with the main theme from Cascade, a 30+ year old piano tape loop that is processed through a series of different length feedback loops over time, building into a crescendo of beating frequencies that then dies down and fades away before the denouement: another mix of limpid old piano loops leading to a randomly discovered urgent orchestral loop that creates the final scene,” Basinski told FADER in an email. “Where Cascade is like an object or organism to me, The Deluge is more like a narrative film in 3 acts if you will." Temporary Residence will release William Basinski's new record The Deluge on August 7.