25 Years of The Disintegration Loops

William Basinski plays The Sanctuary of the First Unitarian Church on Saturday, November 7, with Claire Rousay joining him. The night is a special seated performance marking 25 years of The Disintegration Loops, the ambient work that's become his most recognized piece.

If you're not familiar with the record, it's a five-hour piece that's come to be seen as one of the most influential ambient albums of all time. Its 2012 deluxe vinyl reissue through Temporary Residence Ltd. earned a perfect 10 from Pitchfork. Basinski is a classically trained musician and composer who's worked in experimental media for over 40 years across New York and Los Angeles, using obsolete technology and analogue tape loops to build haunting soundscapes that look at the temporal nature of life. That's the core of The Disintegration Loops — the sound of tape physically falling apart as it runs, turning a loop into something that slowly erodes over time.

This date is part of his current tour for The Disintegration Loops - Arcadia Archive Edition, and he's also preparing a new album, Passing the Cup of Sorrows, which is due late 2026. Beyond the loops, Basinski was chosen by Anohni to write the music for Robert Wilson's opera The Life and Death of Marina Abramović, which premiered at the Manchester International Festival in 2011.

Doors open at 7:30 PM and the show starts at 8 PM. Tickets are $37.14, though the Philadelphia date is already sold out, with a waiting list available.