Review Summary: Aural ecstasy at its most minimal and vital.
Modern Times Series: (Part 5)
When it comes to Kieran Hebden’s music palette in his solo project
Four Tet, you should expect that he will never perform the same trick from his sleeve. From the jazz-infused
Dialogue and
Pause, the fractured landmark
Rounds to the rich, bustling, jungle music-oriented
Beautiful Rewind and the meditating
Morning/Evening, it is clear that Hebden is an experimentalist who is willing to explore any new grounds. His first album in the 2010s,
There Is Love in You, is perhaps the most surprising addition into his then-already expansive cannon at the time, as it found Hebden experimenting with more dancefloor-friendly textures, which could be risky since such a move could lead to scorns of selling out in the dance scene. Despite that, it did not stop the fact that
There Is Love in You is one of his most focused and best work since
Rounds, as the album takes listeners to a psychedelic audio journey filled with haunting samples and sparse yet propulsive rhythms.
The nine-minute lead single, “Love Cry”, displayed the dance-ready nature of the record at its forefront. Begin with a static-filled, ringing drone loop, the song then proceeds to a pulsating garage house beats around at the one minute mark, all the while being driven with the very same electronic loop in the intro, it almost as if the drone itself is the driving force instead of the electronic percussions. After halfway through the album, a loop of psychedelic female vocal sample repeating the title of the song and nuanced synthetic bass appeared kicked into the song, with more ghostly vocal samples and luminous synths appeared later. At the seven-minute mark, however, all the vocals and synths disappeared, only with the crunching synthetic bass to take the lead. Half a minute before the song ends, all the dance beats ended, a relaxing mixture of acoustic guitar and jittering electronics replaced the bustling sounds instead, serving as the palette cleanser after all the audio commotion while preparing us for the follow-up “Circling”. If the epic doesn’t convince you that Hebden is exploring new grounds, the record exhibited the producer’s most surprising compositions, whether is it his most danceable (the club-ready “Sing”), most euphoric (the arpeggio-driven “Circling”, “Plastic People”) to his most paradoxical (the maraca-driven ambient track “Reversing”, the tranquil
Pause-recalled tune turned underground club hitter “This Unfolds”), providing listeners colorful, carnival-like audio delights, one after another. While it is undeniable that Four Tet’s works prior to this album such as
Everything Ecstatic or
Rounds are at least good, you can’t help but feel bored or even confused at some tracks. In this record, however, you would not even find any second that is disengaging here, as it would vibrate your eardrums with club-ready beats and ever shapeshifting, nocturnal electronics.
But Hebden remained his signature warmth and brightness in his previous records. Just take a listen to the bookends “Angel Echoes” and “She Just Likes to Fight”: With an accompaniment of jazzy percussions, the
Rounds-recalled former number is an atmospheric number driven with a fragmented female vocal sample loop repeating the title of the album, serving as the “angel echoes” as the title suggest, and later on being accompanied by the otherworldly glockenspiel loops, metamorphosing the song from an already calming number into an otherworldly one, sculpturing the song itself as a perfect opening track that greets the listeners into the dance-driven sonic haven; driven by the four-on-the-floor kick drums and the scattered drums and metal percussions and lead by silky electric guitars, the latter tune that is "She Just Likes to Fight”, on the other hand, is perhaps the album’s most clarified and upbeat moment, with the song later proceeds to have a lush synths arpeggio and electro pulse loop, guiding the listeners from the dark club instrumentals prior in the album to a sunrise, giving them a comforting sonic blanket, concluding the album with a stunning full stop.
Even though the fact that it can be too reliant on the repeating rhythm sections at times, which loses part of the Four Tet unpredictable charm, and that this record needs to be digested as a whole,
There Is Love in You nevertheless stood out as the producer’s most coherent hour among his already esteemed discography, while remaining his signature sonic warmth of his music, and ultimately proofing you do not need to rely on bombastic production and sacrifice your experimental tendency to create danceable tunes. It is perhaps true that
There Is Love in You is Hebden’s most commercial work, evident in the album’s chart success, as it became Four Tet’s only album to appear in the Billboard 200 and the Top 40 in the UK pop charts. However, what one could not deny is that this album is where Hebden showcased his capability or even electronic music in general, to create something entrancing and clarified without sacrificing one’s sonic print, and thus a collection of nine cerebral yet playful electronic numbers that kicks off the 2010s with brilliance, all the while proofing Hebden is one of the most exciting electronic musicians of the modern times.
Personal Ratings:
4.6/5
Personal Favourite:
Angel Echoes
Love Cry
Sing
She Just Likes to Fight
