The Thousands

Kieran Hebden has had a good time of it just lately. The guitarist turned much-feted producer and DJ has continued along the rosy path of critical adoration, and he’s done so by consistently straying from his comfort zone. Along the way, he has shed the long-standing ‘folktronica’ tag that dogged his early Four Tet and effectively reinvented himself. The reinvention continues in earnest on There is Love in You, a bold, focused release containing some of his finest music.

Love draws from Four Tet’s entire discography to form a gloriously coherent whole, combining the chopped-up nature of 2005’s Everything Ecstatic, the dance inflections of the 2008 Ringer EP, and the understanding of musical space and ambience gained from last year’s superb collaborative EP with Burial. However, what shines through most clearly on Love is Four Tet’s DJ work via a residency at London club Plastic People, which proved a fertile breeding ground for new musical ideas. He would gauge the reactions to new songs and adjust accordingly. This is referenced in penultimate track, unsurprisingly called ‘Plastic People’, as well as the Much Love to the Plastic People mix of 2009.

All through Love, there are stark reminders of the strengths of Four Tet’s music – particularly in the longer compositions, where he displays a beautiful ability to retain the core melody while changing everything around it.