Kieran Hebdan achieves a rare outcome: he makes electronic music human. There’ always been an incredible lyricism and warmth to his musical output under the moniker Four Tet; these traits explicitly evident in past masterpieces Rounds and Everything Ecstatic. It’s been three years since the latter record was released, and Ringer – perhaps an extended EP, perhaps a mini album – contains the most recent four tracks to emerge from the Four Tet alchemy chamber. So, I bet you’re wondering, how has the music changed?
Immediately obvious is the withdrawal of Four Tet’s organic elements. In its place are dense forests of synthesised flora, planting beep upon bleep upon whirl. Melodies intertwine with melodies to create waves of textured sound. Hebden’ always been a self-confessed acid jazz nerd, but this influence has been subsumed within his synthesiser universe. I’m guessing after recording three albums with jazz drummer auteur Steve Reid, released between Everything Ecstatic and this current album, exorcising that part of his brain was probably the last thing he felt like doing on a new collection of Four Tet tunes.
“Wing Body Wing’ is a perfect example of how Hebden has incorporated his acid jazz influence into his penchant for keyboards. A mesh of polyrhythmic drums introduces the track before it plateaus out to a subconscious 4/4 thump ornamented by soft up-beat hi-hats and damp finger-clicks. Its minimal aesthetic is maintained for the seven-plus minute duration, only occasionally intercepted by a nasaly, distorted buzz saw of a synth line which sounds like it’s been run through a talk box and wah pedal simultaneously.
The opening, and title, track also contains faint traces of Hedben’ jazz leanings. Cascading melodies tumble down upon beds of ping-pong synthesisers and pulsating, glitchy beats, coalescing to form an incredibly lush environment that belies the impersonal nature of the instrumentation. Without you even being aware of it, “Ringer’ is slowly building, as Hebden garnishes the track with subtle additions, until it explodes into a Psyence Fiction-esque drum climax, its beat akin to that found on “Rabbit In Your Headlights’ or “Lonely Soul’.
Four Tet is the Johnny 5 of electronic music, imbuing personality within the mechanised landscape. Those, like me, who were fans of Hebden’ left field excursions into ambient electronica territory, will have to check their expectations at the door. This is a new realm of Four Tet music, a harbinger of Hebden’ stylistic evolution. But don’ fret, there’ still as much heart as there ever was. It just looks a little different now.
Dom Alessio
