Hi everyone, Steepthony Steptano here, the internet's busiest music nerd, and it's time for a review of this new ⣎⡇ꉺლ༽இ•̛)ྀ◞ ༎ຶ ༽ৣৢ؞ৢ؞ؖ ꉺლ - ʅ͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡͡(̸̢̛̼̞̭͋ͅ)̸͚̰͛̔̾̀̿͒͂:̴͓̞̑̌̂̆̊͋̀:̸͎̟̯̂̓̌　҉... ⠁⠇⠃⠥⠍ ⠗⠑⠧⠊⠑⠺.

This new album here is a side project under another name from producer and DJ extraordinaire, Mr. Kieran Hebden a.k.a. Four Tet, one of the best and most interesting electronic music artist to break on the indie scene in the 2000s.

In fact, I still look back fondly when it comes to a lot of his early works, of course, the electro-acoustic timbres and fusions that were all throughout Rounds. Meanwhile, There Is Love In You is actually one of my favorite records of the 2000s period, and I think personally the defining record for the micro house genre. Tracks on that thing like "Love Cry" still blow my mind to this day.

So yeah, this guy had a very solid run in the 2000s, but the following decade of output for Kieran would take a very different shape in my opinion. It's like he grew tired of crafting albums that felt like albums in the traditional sense anyway. Cohesive, consistent, focused, the sounds and the flow of the tracklist guided by a grander vision or macro picture. This is what we were seeing less of by way of projects that kind of grew increasingly fragmented or impenetrable. Like Pink, which overall was a solid release, but still more or less a compilation of 12-inch singles. Or Beautiful Rewind, which had its moments for sure, but kind of covered too many stylistic bases to be all that cohesive. Which I would say was even more so the case for Sixteen Oceans, which even touched down upon new age and field recordings a little bit. There was also Morning/Evening, which pretty much consisted of two lengthy 20-minute tracks.

And as we transitioned into the 2020s, Kieran began to kind of split his focus even more. But now between different monikers and of course, releasing music outside of the Four Tet or even his own given name, is nothing new for this man, but it starts to tell a different story when you are consistently starting to drop new tracks under this name of like different symbols and webdings that are impossible to search. It really became a if-you-know-you-know sort of thing for a minute. That is until recently when this name began to pop up more and more as like a related artist when you actually looked up Kieran's or Four Tet's music.

Because yeah, this is now the second full length album under this name. And dropping music in this way feels less like a mode of expression and kind of reframing audiences' minds so they go into a project like this not quite expecting another Rounds or another There's Love or even another Pink. Because it's not like musically and stylistically what Kieran is doing on this record is that radically different from some of the output under his own name. Which kind of makes this project feel like maybe a sort of artistic avoidance or an attempt at running away from the spotlight a little bit and kind of creating a bit of a separate space for those who are actually willing to go out of their way to hear what he's doing here and have an open mind about it.

There is a little bit of an irony though because in trying to throw a bit of an obstacle at fans by virtue of releasing music labeled this way, this project, this different moniker for Kieran has begun to start turning more heads simply because of the nature of the name. Either way, I have heard previous output Kieran has released in this way that didn't really stop me in my tracks. And I will say, the eight pieces that are featured on this album cover a lot of familiar ground too. But I actually was pretty impressed with the quality of these works when I actually dug into this record.

As this thing here contains a lot of heady spins on techno, house, IDM. These cuts are packed with dubby effects, with micro samples, with acoustic textures, with gentle glitches, otherworldly atmospheres. Yes, it is a bit on the shorter side at 37 minutes, but it's also varied too and very much proof that Hebden has a lot of gas in the tank to this day, even if he seemingly has very little interest or passion in creating a project that has a flawless guided progression to it. Because each one of these moments is for sure impressive on an individual level. The opener definitely eases us into things, but still is an otherworldly display sonically.

There's also an incredible beat switch in the final leg of it too. Not to mention the track not only blends together different grooves across its runtime, but different instrumental palettes that feel lifted from a couple different cultures at least. As Kieran is obviously no stranger to not just bringing together different electronic music styles, but different styles of folk music too. I also really appreciate these kind of bendy, stretched synth leads that play throughout the track as well. Track two on this thing hits us with a much more brisk pace, driving quarter note kicks, the high hat playing off of those, hitting with some kind of skittering little embellishments here and there as well.

And then orbiting around that, these dry, plucky synth arpeggios that almost feel like a Hebden calling card at this point. If I had heard this out of context, labeled under another artist's name, I would have to presume they were at least influenced by the guy. Still, it's a very pretty and captivating progression. Then the third track on this thing slows things down and instrumentally feels like a micro sample tribal ritual. There's just something about these grooves that feels very primal, feels very drum circle. It's a meditative and heady one for sure.

Track four, I personally would have wished for maybe some more progression or evolution out of, but still, as it stands, it's a weird glitch number that has some dubby effects packed in and is not just textured, but also kind of smooth as well in terms of its overall demeanor. Despite it being so textured and so jagged in some aspects, there's something about it that's overall pretty relaxing as a listen. Then track five is maybe one of the funkiest house-inspired tracks Hebden has released under any name in a long time. The snare rolls, the vocal drops, the nimble little touches of bass throughout this thing are incredible.

Then as we transition into the final leg of this project, things begin to really mellow out. And this is where the record does lose at least a little bit of steam for me. The closer is a piece that maybe leans a little bit too far into ambient territory to my ears. Track six is a very prickly little IDM piece with lots of bustling acoustic layers. There is a lot of detail there, there's a lot of layers at play, but it doesn't really change or evolve enough to my liking across its runtime. Once it establishes itself, it's just kind of there. But track seven is still a highlight to my ears. It's another track that, to me, features some dubby echoes, and it's a bit of a cool techno piece with a progressively atmospheric sound and ends off with a really epic washed-out finish.

But yeah, overall I walked away from this project highly impressed. Again, it does flow a bit more like a compilation than a genuine album, and it is a bit on the short side, but pound for pound, this is one of the more consistently good bodies of work Hebden has released under any name in a minute, which is why I'm feeling about a light 8 on this one.

Anthony Fantano, ⣎⡇ꉺლ༽இ•̛)ྀ◞ ༎ຶ , forever.