Four Tet - There Is Love In You

Trance For Your Head.

Four Tet was a band I was previously unaware of until recently. Founded by Kieran Hebden, from the UK, he has created a type of dance music that could be put into a class with the greats like Autechre or Aphex Twin. Music that doesn't exactly fit into one style of electronic music.

Mixing styles such as IDM, industrial, trance/techno, ambient, and dub music all into one. Distancing itself from regular club music with more trippy sampling used doesn't allow one to dance to one part without that part being changed soon after it originally appeared. The use of more natural sounding beats underneath more "heady" use of melodies and samples creates a very interesting sound for this record. The whole record utilizes a heavy use of layering multiple parts on top of each other, but it never sounds like there's just layers of randomness appearing.

It's been 5 years since Kieran put out an "official" album under the Four Tet name. As the follow up to 2005's "Everything Ecstatic," "There Is Love In You" features a sound that is a bit darker in comparison to it's predecessor. But it also features a sound that is much more beautiful in comparison.

Having been in the post-rock band Fridge, as well as doing collaborations with jazz drummer Steve Reid, these influences do make it into the sound of "There Is Love In You." From the building that This Unfolds has, resembling that of a more post-rock type of track.The closer, She Just Likes to Fight is the closest thing on this record to "non-electronic" music, actually mixing the two styles together, electronic and post-rock, in a rather unique way that is very cool sounding. Jazz never fully comes out into the sound of Four Tet, but elements and traces of jazz can be found throughout the album in terms of the compositions, while being minimal themselves, the arrangement of laying techniques and beats throughout the whole album bring a chilled back vibe that you could get in a jazz club.

Songs like the single, Love Cry, features an interesting use of a simple sampled vocal melody onto of a very simple beat. As the song progresses, it moves into territories of trance music with a heavy synthe-wave line gradually getting louder and louder in the sound. But more and more loops and layers keep appearing in the song to keep it from getting old.

Every song on this album seems to give you a different emotion attached to it. From the very beautiful and child-like innocence vibe off of Circling to the more raging Angel Echoes. I wouldn't call Angel Echoes a very angry song, but it features a sound that is a bit darker compared to other songs. Even the happy, heady vibe of Sing, still has enough in it to get your head bobbing while also demanding your attention to hear everything inside of it.

Nothing on this album could be considered boring, mainly because it's nature to shift itself and change into other areas of styles in a single given song. Heavily textured allows a listener to hear something on a first listen, but have to listen many more times to hear everything else. It's very hypnotic in a sense due to it's layering and tracks can get caught in your head even if your not really into electronic music.

Overall, this album is really enjoyable. Very entrancing if you're a person who can get into minimalistic music easier than others. Tracks differ from each other, which is nice for someone who doesn't listen to a lot of electronic music to have some changes in sound from track to track to make things more interesting.

Overall Score: 8

Highlights: Love Cry, Circling, Sing, This Unfolds, She Just Likes to Fight