I’ve been listening to the music of Kieran Hebden for about a decade now. I own most of his studio records, several live mixes from the likes of Plastic People and the BBC, and a host of remixes and other sundry projects (like the Moth / Wolf Cub 12” with Burial). I mention such things not to prove any sort of street cred (especially since I’ve never seen this talented artist perform live), but to provide context to the claims made over the course of this review.
So let’s begin.
1) Morning/Evening is the most coherent and focused piece of work in the entire Four Tet canon.
The case is simple – Four Tet has been exploring the farthest reaches of the electronic music landscape for most of his career. Sure, he enjoys weaving mainstream pop tunes when mixing live sets, but his compositions reflect someone heavily influenced by Steve Reich, free jazz, and found audio recordings. Released on the artist’s own Text label, this record effortlessly combines the krautrock of Four Tet’s early albums, the trip synth pads of his middle era, and the quirky pop sensibilities of 2013’s Beautiful Rewind.
2) Morning/Evening is not some grand, career-spanning artistic statement.
Seriously, if you were trying to distill 15 years of exploring all that one person can do with synthesizers and modern recording equipment, would you create just two 20-minute tracks and call it a day? Of course not. Sure, Morning/Evening is a complete musical thought – literally two sides of the same vinyl coin – but it’s meditative and insular in ways that Pink and There is Love in You never attempted. Those are dance records; this is a gloriously ambient soundscape.
3) Morning/Evening is directly impacted by the interstitial parts of Four Tet’s live sets.
If you listened to the massive 6-hour set that Four Tet and Floating Points created to memorialize the closing of Plastic People in early 2015, you’d better understand this claim. Chill, poppy, and grooving sections are balanced by sparse, reflective, and dreamy portions to create a glittering conversation between the sound effects, treated vocals, and distended synth pads. The entire effect is light and airy, while still seeming sumptuous and never decadent.
4) Morning/Evening represents a new direction for the music of Four Tet.
Equal parts UK electro, Detroit samples, and German soundscapes are combined with skittering beats and rich bass tones, creating something I might call “elegant minimalism.” Yet, Hebden’s sense of playfulness reigns supreme for the 40 minutes of music, delivering the right levels of serious glitch and delightful whimsy without sacrificing his personality.
While Morning/Evening never achieves the purported day / night split the title might suggest, it stands tall as yet another outstanding release. In fact, I’ll end this review with one final claim – Morning/Evening is the record you should use to introduce people to the Four Tet aesthetic.
Rating: 3.75/5