Customer Reviews

There Is Love in You

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Most reviewers don't seem to know a lot about Four Tet / Kieran Hebden.

Kieran is a pioneer in the "folktronica" movement, when he started back in 1999 by mixing acoustic folk guitars with jazz samples and electronica elements.

His music has been quite influential, and he has done a lot of groundbreaking live DJ collaborations with jazz drummer Steve Reid, which have been released on record. Kieran is also a member of post-rock band Fridge, and has released a few CDs with them. He also toured with Radiohead.

All of Four Tet's music is instrumental, except for the remixes he has done for some well known singers such as Beth Orton, all released in his two "Remixes" albums.

"There is love in you" is not a "dance" record.. just like most of Four Tet's work cannot be pigeonholed into any particular category.

This CD is like most of Four Tet's work.. a quite unique combination of minimalist / repetitive, funky-jazz drums, backward samples (a common element present in all of his music), guitars and manipulated sounds.

Here is a listing of all the songs:

The first song "Angel Eyes" starts with some cut up vocals, reminiscent of Bonobo's (Simon Green) first album and it builds up by adding elements such as orchestra percussion samples. It almost sounds something out of a Cinematic Orchestra album.

"Love Cry" is a 9 minute song of digital sound manipulation as ambience backing up some funky drum work, sampled vocals and synths, before ending in the signature Four Tet backward guitars.

"Circling" starts with what appears to be a repeated banjo arpeggio followed by doubling piano arpeggios and some backward manipulated sounds. This song sounds almost like an early Steve Reich minimalist composition, where various sonic elements / instruments are phased in and out of the song.. (hence the title of the song)

"Sing" is a "dancey" happy song featuring some vocals snippets and morphing synths sounds.

The closing songs are my favorites in the album:

"This unfolds" and "Reversing" are more "traditional" Four Tet songs with slow drums / drum machines, backwards samples and manipulated sounds singing catchy melodies.

"Plastic People" is much like "Circling", where various musical elements are phased in and out of the song on top of a catchy arpeggio. Great stuff!

"She just likes to fight" is a song that reminds me the early Four Tet "folktronica" ... layers of guitars and manipulated sounds, folk arpeggios and melodies.. this song almost reminds me of Steve Tibbet's early layered guitar albums.

Overall this is one of the best Four Tet albums has released recently, and it compares to some of his early work. Lovely music, highly recommended.

Kieran Hebden is UK Dance act Four Tet, and "There Is Love in You" is his 5th album. His style is Jazz/Folk-speckled theatrical electronica, and apart from a few repetitive vocal loops (on opening pair of the sublime "Angel Echoes" -with what seems to be album title warbled repeatedly- and the skittery nine minute opus "Love Cry"), it is an album of instrumentals.

The aptly titled "Circling" has a cyclic feel that leaves one almost giddy, "Pablo's Heart" is a brief interlude, while the choppy "Sing" throws in some disembodied-sounding harmonies. "This Unfolds" sets sparkly effects to a funereal pace, while the haunting "Reversing" is reverb-laden.

"Plastic People" is more upbeat with twinkling pianos, as is the truly beautiful "She Just Likes To Fight" (the latter my favourite).

Rich in detail, this is a album that just grows and grows till it engulfs you.

This is a great record for anybody who loves music and wants to get a taste of electronica.

This record is more club-oriented than its predecessors; it namechecks Shoreditch sweatbox Plastic People. Coincidently, moments of the record remind me of former Shoreditch artist Towers of Asia and the influence of Burial is clearly evident.

Kieran "Four Tet" Hebden has released a giant stack of records over the last 10 years. EPs, singles, remix records, proper Four Tet albums, limited edition 12" projects, jazz fusion collaborations with Steve Reid, DJ records and more. His best work, 2003's Rounds, is rightfully considered to be one of the essential electronic albums ever recorded. All that said, Hebden has only released two full-blown Four Tet records since the star-turning Rounds: 2005's Everything Ecstatic (similar to Rounds, though not nearly as deep or affecting); and the just released There Is Love in You, the fifth proper release under the Four Tet name.

Hebden's 2008 EP, the much anticipated Ringer, signaled a change in direction for the Four Tet moniker. Where he had once utilized very organic, cut-and-paste sounding production style similar to the work of DJ Shadow and other hip-hop and trip-hop inspired producers, Hebden here began incorporation quite a bit of live instrumentation, focused mostly on keyboards that brought to mind 80s-era film scores. Cheesy, that's the word. So, no, the excitement for There Is Love in You was not exactly notable; Ringer wasn't a bad record, per se, but it offered little of the repeat value of Rounds, Everything Ecstatic or even the Steve Reid records.

There Is Love in You isn't the letdown Ringer was but it's also not the major triumph Rounds was. Does Hebden put on a clinic as far as electronic production goes? Absolutely. But that doesn't necessarily mean that he's released a triumphant record. In fact, Love feels a bit too mulled over at all times. Unnatural, even. Once described by critics as the perfect mix of organic and programmed, Hebden's work has lost its organic touch, in doing so, losing much of its repeat value. Save for a couple of tracks, most of the material here is a mix of epically produced IDM and ... well ... background music.

Does the new sound make Love a bad record? No, of course not. But it seems that the days of Four Tet making records that you can party to, sleep to, read to, get busy to and, most importantly, lose yourself in, are gone. Instead, we get one of the most deeply produced background records ever. A Tangerine Dream for a new generation of ears. Nothing wrong with that.

i've been listening to Four Tet since...well, since whenever he started recording. always loved (much of) the music.

the new album is absolutely delicious; moody, dreamy, funky.

a must-have album (and i don't say that often...).

3 1/2

He might not have the whiff of innovation anymore, but FT has been inching towards this most accessibly concise work for some time.

Its been a while since I have heard Four Tet but this album reminds me yet again that he is damn good. Its not the most groundbreaking album, but they don't have to be to be really good. Ultimately, its a very nicely done album.