A Shadow in Time: William Basinski review – multilayered and hypnotic

Best known for his Disintegration Loops series of albums from the early 00s, New York-based avant-garde composer William Basinski sculpts samples, drones and feedback loops into soundscapes rich in melancholic atmosphere. The two tracks on his 23rd album include a eulogy to David Bowie, For David Robert Jones, that’s rather less literal than Lady Gaga’s Grammys tribute and all the more powerful for it. Its eerily distorted saxophone, a nod to Low, takes six minutes to surface, but then takes centre stage, a mournful motif subtly evolving over the next quarter of an hour. The multilayered title track, meanwhile, is a less immediate drone, but proves hypnotic well within its 17-minute timeframe.