There is love in You
Domino
****
Kieran Hebden has come a long way since the days of Fridge and his low-key solo debut, Dialogue. Back in 2001, there was no shortage of electronic albums made on laptops, but his second record, Pause– all fragmented beats and guitar melodies – marked itself out from other bedroom noodlings. 2003's Roundscontinued mixing electronic glitches and loops with more traditional instruments. Rather than sounding like premeditated crossover, the digital and organic elements interacted, sounding fluid and original.
Hebden, like Minotaur Shock and Mice Parade, creates experimental music that has warmth, that emotes without sounding like a cry-here soundtrack crescendo. It's been four years since the more subdued Everything's Ecstatic, but Hebden has been productive as ever. As well as remixing songs for others, including Radiohead and Juana Molina, projects with Steve Reid, (ex-Fela Kuti and Miles Davis drummer) and Burial have kept him busy.
Hebden's sound has always been malleable; a constantly evolving process reliant on his openness to hearing and adopting new things. This magpie ability, and the effect of recent collaborations, hugely inform There Is Love in You. On many levels, it's typical of Four Tet, but draws in more recent influences.
The opener, Angel Voices, is noticeably less chaotic, almost mellow, its airy vocal samples and chimes setting out a quietly buoyant stall for the album. Circling, with its subtle harp intro, seems to continue the understated theme, but rolls out into 4/4 house beats, which are adhered to throughout in percussion terms.
There are stylistic flourishes we haven't heard from Hebden in a while (a bouncy dub-step rhythm on Sing, female vocal samples on Love Cryand Angel Voices). But there's as much newness as familiarity, making this Four Tet's most accessible work to date. www.fourtet.net
Download Tracks: Sing, Angel Echoes, Plastic People