I manged to see William Basinski last week as part of the Manchester international festival and was surprised by his personality. I would have never associated his music with his flamboyantly extroverted persona. It’s challenged me about expectations and bias towards artists based on their work and how close it resembles them. I’m not sure if I will ever find answers to the questions its raised but his performance certainly got me searching for answers.

Most of his music focuses on tape loops, short sections of music that repeat for many minutes which slightly change over time. Cascade is a piano melody that’s heavily surrounded in reverb. Although the melody stays close to its original structure slight warping causes the individual notes of the melody to drift slightly as the piece continues. Its this slight change that allows the pieces repetitive melody to stay fresh throughout.

Give the track a listen below:

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