William Basinski can be thought of as a reverse Brian Eno: whereas Brian Eno created ambiance by building up, William does it by breaking things down. In his greatest work, Disintegration Loops, he even made the process romantic. You could hear and feel those loops breaking down into mere fragments. A Red Score in Tile explores slightly different territory.
This piece, originally written in 1979, doesn’t break apart. Rather, it mediates on a single theme for 45 minutes. At moments you can detect a slight variation on the theme, a slight bending of pitch. Unfortunately, the amount of work and focus needed for this discovery is ultimately a let-down. Sure, the sound is great, William doesn’t exactly create tasteless recordings, but it feels unusually empty for a composer who deals with larger scale pieces in a more meaningful way.
Basically a recording like this was inevitable. With so many releases, at some point he would eventually release a dullard. I’d strongly suggest his Disintegration Loops recordings for those with time and patience. That experience is rewarding. For those with less time, Melancholia offers a better presentation of his ideas in a short period of time. But sadly, this piece is not worth the effort the listener puts in. Fine wallpaper music but not something worth engaging on a deeper level.