Four Tet: perfection would be too much

Whatever theoreticians claim, history has always been lead by individuals - visionaries, eccentrics, ‘loonies’. It is suchlike compelling personalities that usually attract followers to force a change. It used to happen in music regularly but with the passing of originality, it is a far rarer occurrence these days although, ultimately, any band is mainly a vehicle for one’s vision, with the supporting cast.

Keiran Hebden is Four Tet, a laptop maestro who was tagged folktronica in the past but he concluded that chapter with the 2003’s ‘Rounds’ album. He’s now more of a lonely crusaders in search of a tune or several differently sounding ones; it’s like he reached a decision on ‘Everything Ecstatic’ - to defy categorisation.

Thus, the man’s fourth album spreads its wings from the Krautrock-land of the opener ‘A Joy’ to drum’n’bass/free-jazz mix on ‘Sun Drums And Soil’, then it gets funkier in parts, dreamier in others. It goes Balearic on ‘Clouding’ with chimes and wind bells [although there is obvious link to musique concrete], it rings poppy and electro, avant-garde and even ‘Hip-hop’-ish on ‘High Fives’ [Wu-Tang Clan spirit?]… It goes Oriental on ‘Turtle, Turtle Up’…

This is one of the albums with so many details that repeated listening is required to allow delving into all the nuances of these 10 tracks. Alas, time is in extremely short supply [are we running out of it, like NHS budget?] these days and, apart from the global attention deficiency, there is a problem with too many releases every darn week.

‘Everything Ecstatic’ needs time to yield its mysteries, otherwise you lose the expansive beauty [8 minute long] of ‘Sleep, Eat Food, Have Visions’ that takes you on a [mental rather than intoxicated] ‘trip’; the song sounds like something the Chemical Brothers should be churning out but ain’t.

These are futuristic sounds based round darker rhythms with electronic juices flowing its cyber-vascular system: ‘And Then Patterns’ or ‘Smile Around The Face’.

The overall effect is a spellbinding, electro-stonery, somewhat belligerent dip into the possibilities of sound magically pasted together by the most radiant of melodies.

8.2/10