Four Tet

New Energy

BY Corinne PrzybyslawskiPublished Oct 10, 2017

9
New Energy is a seamless body of work that evinces Kieran Hebden's masterful and dextrous use of percussion and harmonic textures, bridging the space between all-consuming melodicism and ambient sensibilities that comprise the opposing sides of electronic music's spectrum. As the ninth studio album from his Four Tet moniker, the English producer's proclivity for irresistible hooks is delivered through a palette of strummed strings, wistful timbres and delectable breaks that make for a satisfying and evocative body of work.
 
The record's introspective inclinations offer emotional depth to the series of subtly club-driven experiments it catalogues. New Energy restlessly moves between sounds, peppering introspective pauses between experiments in ambient techno on "Planet," coyly disguised deep house on "SW9 9SL" and abstract neo-classical on tracks like "10 Midi."
 
Luminous drones and world music tinge the danceable cuts throughout the record. Elaborating on the foundations that have propelled Four Tet through his 20-year career, Hebden allows the sonic palettes from records Pause and Rounds to bleed into textures born from transfigured field recordings and sonic artefacts that epitomize the producer's discography while refining his sonic identity.
(Text Records)

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