When experimenting with sound, often the question is how musical the result should be. London-based Kieran Hebden, who moonlights as a club DJ, bounces between beautiful electronic randomness and direct to disco on his latest. It is puzzling for those who fancy his mutant side when he’ll plop a lengthy groove like “Love Cry” under tinklings and breathy loop that might have have stood up unadorned by thumping. A good title would be “Sod Art, Let’s Dance.” Four Tet still stands more as oddball scientist than party boss while growing into an accessible wizard.
This article appears in Mar 4-10, 2010.