Kieran Hebden with each year is becoming ever more lauded in the world of music. Having released his first album as Four Tet, Dialougue, in 1998 then coming to prominence with albums Pause (2001) and Rewind (2003), Hebden has only become more relevant and revered as time goes on which is rare for an electronic artist who is nearing his third decade. As well as his own strong catalogue of releases, Hebden has had his hand in a number of brilliant releases for other artists including everyone from UNKLE, Caribou and Jamie XX to Beth Orton, Steve Reid and Neneh Cherry, as well as releasing a few tracks with the elusive and childhood friend Burial (having gone to the same school in South-West London) which you could compare his latest album Moring/Evening to.
Morning/Evening is Hebden’s eighth album as Four Tet and you would say it isn’t in a typical format, but still retains Four Tet’s penchant for a refreshing and interesting release. It is an album of two sides, two tracks and two times of day, ‘Morning’ and ‘Evening’. It follows the same principle as a Raga in Indian music, which are associated with different times in the day, and are usually long in duration with each song being around 20 minutes long but never feeling laboured. The only information that was given on this release was a little spiel on his Bandcamp page (where the album was made available before its official release to coincide with the summer solstice) – “This music was created on a laptop computer using the Ableton Live software to control and mix VST synthesizers and manipulations of found audio recordings.” – adding to the mystery of this unusual concept.
The begin of ‘Morning’ will appease the house heads looking to pump their fists to the 126bpm beat, but before all the EDM fans get excited, this is a far more delicate and intriguing piece of music. A full bodied organ synth, followed by lush violin strings, paves the way for the continuous loop of Indian singer Lata Mangeshkar (one of the most celebrated Indian vocalists, having won countless awards and honours in her seven-decade career). The angelic sample is taken from an 80s Indian drama film called Souten, and sits on top of undulating synths and textured beats. You could imagine putting this on early morning, perhaps on the commute into work, as its energizing atmosphere is almost like an audible sunrise. After eight and a half minutes, the piece turns into more of a Progressive House track with a charge of complex drum patterns coming close to dismantling its awakening nature. A minute later and the content feel is restored with the warm synths and beautiful vocal being reintroduced, until the fifteen minute mark when the songs structure withers away, leaving swells of rolling sound to travel indefinitely till the songs loses pace.
‘Evening’ picks up where the last piece finished, in a languid scatter of bouncing synthesiser bleeps, until 2:40 when it makes way to a low rumbling drones and sliced cooed Indian vocal samples. The track slowly builds in energy as ethereal layers are added to Hebden’s kaleidoscopic journey until the hypnotic trance almost ends in silence at about eleven and a half minutes with bobbling bouncing notes keeping the track alive. About two minutes later and ominous drums are introduced over the twinkling synths that soon dispel, periodically turning industrial for a couple of bars which gives the track more of a clubbing feel and one that replicates the beginning of ‘Morning’ – it is almost as if ‘Morning’ and ‘Evening’ sum up the two halves of a day, which are on an infinite loop looking for tomorrow.
This has been the most relaxing review I have ever experience. The 20 minute instalments in Morning/Evening seem to take time out of the equation, and leave you in a motionless state of flux. They both create this moment of serenity where you can stay in your own calm state, allowing everything around you in life to carry on with its busy and chaotic cycle. This is Four Tet’s most moving and profound release yet, and with any luck it will encourage other producers to take the risk to release something that isn’t conforming to trends or expectations.
Iain Lauder
Website: fourtet.net