The one and only time this writer has seen Tim Hecker perform live (giving what now reveals itself to have been a full preview of this new disc), he made a point of setting up perpendicular to the audience, offstage and to one side, so that when the opening 'live' band finished and his performance began, it took a few seconds for us spectators to find our bearings and figure out where this disembodied barrage was emanating from. Combined with an equally discombobulating ceiling-projected slide show, it was the perfect visual analogue to Hecker's work, deep immersion to the point of self-removal, and An Imaginary Country could be his heftiest exercise in dark, granular ambience.