polaroids of androids

May 8, 2008

Four Tet
Ringer

7.9

Kieran Hebden and his Four Tet project likely needs no introduction - to date he's produced numerous albums of largely sample-based music built around fragments of acoustic sounds, much of which is high quality, however still frequently ending up as a soundtrack for coffee-shops the world over. He's both furthered the niche while spawning a new wave of followers - even inadvertently bringing about the abhorrent 'folktronica' genre description.

What, then, do you do when cliched repetition of yourself looks dangerously unavoidable? For Hebden, the answer is to go and play some DJ sets, work with live musicians (Steve Reid, amongst others) and get your post-rock band (Fridge) back together.

It's been nearly three years since the last official Four Tet full-length (Everything Ecstatic) hit stores and now comes - in somewhat understated fashion - a 4-track mini-album (technically a few minutes too long to be an EP) which is a near-complete makeover. So let's be clear: gone are the song-without-words tunes, gone is the trip-hop-esque downtempo percussion and gone are the jam-y, sampled acoustic guitar lines. Say hello to a new, sleek, mid-tempo set of melodic minimal techno.

Minimal eh? There seems to have been something of a resurgence of interest in this approach in the last year or so. Microhouse (amongst other similar genres) has become a force to be reckoned with, and many artists that might have already been described as minimal in the past have become even more so. Chances are Hebden's years spinning wax in clubs has a part to play in this stylistic shift.

Ringer opens with the title track, which immediately goes about acquainting the listener with the concept of the album: simple, reiterated, electronic loops that weave their way around a solid 4/4 kick drum throbbing in subdued fashion. The arrangements rise and fall as elements get added and subtracted. Textures swirl about the mix. Cute, almost whimsical, synth arpeggios appear in little bursts all over the mix. Is this sounding like microhouse to you? It should, because that's basically what Ringer is.

If that's the case, what distinguishes this latest offering from the rest of the pack? In a nutshell, it comes back to the qualities that have always set Hebden's work apart. In part it's his unabashed willingness to explore simple - some might even say childlike - motifs and melodies. Another significant characteristic is his ability to create a well-crafted balance between space and texture. In a nutshell, even though it's almost a completely new genre, it still sounds like Four Tet.

Ribbons opens with a delicate sample that might well have originally been a piano. Sparse, harp-like synth glissandos appear all over the mix, with a hint of dub reinforcing the track's wandering, innocent flow. It's a fragile little piece - but just when you think you've worked out its tone, the track gets kicked up a notch with a sprightly techno groove, along with a nearly primary-school motif that accompanies it to provide energy.

Swimmer is nearly 9 minutes of two chords alternating, basically consisting of subtle percussion, sustained pads and Hebden's subtle electric guitar noodling providing ambience. It's gorgeous, and might even be my favourite track on the album.

Finally, Wing Body Wing reprises some of Hebden's trademark jazz drum samples along with fragmented glitches and percussive edits to create a joyful frolic that sounds like a cross between James Holden and Sesame Street. Just in case the primary colours and rainbows are leaving you alienated, Hebden rescinds doubts by throwing the listener for a loop with a blast of distorted synths before returning to the previous proceedings of jubilation.

So in conclusion? I won't lie: the first time I heard this mini-LP I wasn't sure what to think, but skepticism has rapidly given way to enthusiasm. Whether this is a tangential experiment or a taste of what's to come from the next Four Tet album remains to be seen, but I'm looking forward to the next developments already.

Words by Joe Hardy