Album Review: Four Tet - Pink

Four Tet
Pink
Rating: Grrrr

With a blistering pace, Kieran Hebden, under his Four Tet moniker, puts out enough material to make most musicians dizzy. Always restless and seeking to push his sound in new directions, there is nothing that can be defined specifically as being Four Tet-esque, but amazingly, all of his work seems to flow together in some cohesive form. His last full length, 2010's There Is Love In You, was by far his most fully realized work, every foray into a different electronic genre was bound together by a seamless weaving of melodies and themes. It was a serious record that demanded, and received your full attention.

In the interim, Hebden has been busy touring, remixing, and working with artists like Thom Yorke and Burial on a whole host of tracks. He has also released over the past couple of years a series of vinyl only singles that are now collected here, along with two new tracks, as his latest album Pink. The most noticeable aspect of this collection of tracks is how different each of them are, and yet, how they still work together. Again, Hebden is not sitting quietly rehashing same exercises over and over again, flitting from deep house, pastoral IDM, to almost folktronica, never looking back or referencing anyone else. Easing out of the gate with the vaguely tribal-funk of "Locked," Pink starts with a sort of bait and switch as it doesn't sound quite like anything else on the record. Shuffling drums, buzzing synths, and trails of drowsy cascading guitars mesh and merge into a low-key, head-bobbing mix.



Which is all up-ended by the dense tech house of "Lion" which builds over a four to the floor beat a rising bed of droning synth tones and a variety of odd samples including dogs barking, before descending into more broken beats.



Album highlight is the gorgeous analog bubblebath of "Jupiters" which begins with a stellar intro of sparkling synths, dropping out the coming back in over a pulsing, throbbing bed of 808s.



"Ocoras" speeds things up under a futuristic rush of trance-like beats, sneaking in a lovely interplay of keyboard melodies and electronic burbles.



Likewise, under thumping beats and a cacophony of different cut up vocal samples, "Pyramid" brings your ass out to the dancefloor.



"Pinnacles" returns to the more organic side of Four Tet, adding some jazzy basslines and stark piano chords to the driving beats.



The only real missteps, and not really missteps, but just tracks that don't leave as lingering an impression are the drawn out pastoral IDM of "Peach For Earth" and "128 Harps" which slightly recalls some of his earlier work.



Considering most of the works on Pink have been recorded and released over a long span of time, it is amazing how such disparate sounds can coalesce into something this assured. It speaks highly to Hebden's amazing talent that he can dip his toes into so many different sounds and genres and never lose his own personality. While not the thematic masterpiece that was There Is Love In You, Pink is by far Hebden's most accomplished record so far.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and piques one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.