DISINTEGRATION LOOPS is a documentary that examines avant-garde composer William Basinski’s infamous work tied to 9/11 from a contemporary perspective in quarantine, as the 20th anniversary of that event approaches.
The film examines William Basinski’s work from the lens of 2020 and looks back at the legacy of those tapes, and what inspired him. Basinski is an experimental composer, sound sculptor, and video artist. He is an experimentalist obsessed with reel-to-reel tape decks, splicing tape and spindling it. His musical signature is evidenced, interestingly enough, by deeply emotional sounds filled with multiple tones, drones, textures, and shades that are as hauntingly beautiful as they are somber. While he’s best-recognized for his career-defining 2002 album “The Disintegration Loops”, Basinski recorded and released new music prolifically, expanding on his beautiful and emotionally resonant sounds with albums like 2020’s mournful “Lamentations”.
DISINTEGRATION LOOPS
24 Beats Per Second – World Premiere (USA)
Runtime: 45 min
Directed by: David Wexler
Synopsis: As the 20th anniversary of 9/11 looms near, William Basinski contemplates the enduring legacy of “The Disintegration Loops” (his elegy to the 2001 Attacks), while quarantined in the midst of COVID-19. All of the interviews are shot on Zoom, interspersed with dramatically eerie shots of an almost empty NYC at the outset of the pandemic, and loaded with amazing archival footage of William growing up and becoming the true visionary he was always meant to be.
