Everyone’s lives changed on the morning of September 11th, 2001. While most of us flocked to TV screens and descended into chaos and confusion, William Basinski went up to the roof of his NYC apartment building and started filming the aftermath of the morning’s catastrophic events. When his tape ran out, it was just after sunset. He took the footage and imported it into iMovie, laying it over the track he was working on at the time, which was constructed from decaying twenty-year-old tapes of his earlier music. What transpired was called “The Disintegration Loops,” and it became an unintentional yet historical time capsule and masterpiece of an unforgettable moment in time.
Directed by David Wexler, the new film of the same name, Disintegration Loops, is a quick 45-minute snapshot of a complex, long-awaited resurgence from one of ambient music’s most revered artists. William Basinski is best known for “The Disintegration Loops,” but his repertoire extends as far back as 1998. It wasn’t until Pitchfork scored The Disintegration Loops albums a perfect 10 (which is incredibly rare) for his career as an experimental ambient artist to become revered in the music industry.
Technically speaking, the pandemic filmmaking style in The Disintegration Loops is very apparent in the film, which allows us to connect to the film even more. Most, if not all, interviews take place over Zoom: the sound quality isn’t perfect, but none of that matters compared to the story at hand.
This year will mark the 20th anniversary of 9/11, a reflective time for both Basinski and all Americans, no doubt. While quarantining in Los Angeles, Basinski released “Lamentations,” an album that transforms operatic tragedy into abyssal beauty. Although Disintegration Loops left me wanting more in terms of its story (and Basinski interviews), I’ve since jumped on Spotify and listened through his numerous ambient albums to feel that sense of sonic connection. And after you check out the documentary, I highly recommend you do the same.
