Kieran Hebdan, known to most as Four Tet, has become a beacon of hope in what was an otherwise terrible year in 2020. The British musician released three studio albums in the past ten months, two of which arrived on Christmas Eve. Following suit from the years earlier release of Sixteen Oceans, both Parallel and 871 come via Hebdan’s own Text Records imprint, the label which has hosted the majority of his recent work has also released sounds from Caribou, Floating Points and
Jamie XX in the past. Throughout Parallel, we find a warm and colourful palette of electronic bliss, crisp percussion and energetic drums dance playfully through a field of vibrant low end textures and acute synth resonance. While some inclusions provide a completely drum-less experience of emotive piano keys and subtle filtered pads.
Where to start:
Parallel 8 – Weighty synth jam that’s rough around the edges
Parallel 2 – Rich, energetic, harmonising house cut
Parallel 4 – Breakbeat drums and rhythmic vocal chops
Previous from Four Tet:
Sixteen Oceans LP (2020, Text Records)
New Energy LP (2020, New Energy)
If you like this then check out:
Caribou – Suddenly LP (2020, City Slang)
Jon Hopkins – Singularity LP (2018, Domino)
Four Tet’s Parallels LP is out now on Text Records.