Fourtet – There Is Love In You

Fourtet (aka Kieren Hebden)’s new album, There Is Love In You, is just the beginning of a fantastic year in electronic music. Massive Attack, Groove Armada, Goldfrapp, David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, Gorillaz, and Autechre all have albums due out before the end of March. Holy shit, you guys. I didn’t even realize how awesome this year is until RIGHT NOW!

If the rest of these albums are as good as There Is Love In You, I’m going to be one happy kid! Hebden’s new album is trip-hop in it’s finest hour, seamlessly blending the minimalistic into twinkling, Atari inspired beats. The album starts off with “Angel Echoes” which has these incredibly haunting, abbreviated female vocals eking out the phrase “…there is love in you”. For as pixelated as the vocals are, there’s just such yearning in that voice. This is how vocals should sound on a trip-hop record. I want my heart to break a little.

I’m hopelessly addicted to “Love Cry”, the first single from the album, right now. So. Much. Fun. It starts off with this barren wasteland of minimal beats, but by the end of it, it’s a cacophony of well placed notes and breathy, angelic vocals singing a mantra of the track title. Two more of my favorites have to be “Sing”, an 8-bit throw back, and “This Unfolds” which does just that. It’s got this swell to it that just simply kicks ass.

This album is by far the most punctuated of Hebden’s career and I’m sure his residency at London’s Plastic People has helped. I mean, imaging being able to try out that new track in front of a live crowd at any given moment just to see their reaction. While Rounds has been considered the Fourtet “classic” (and it is a phenomenal album), I really think this one’s going to climb to the top for a lot of Fourtet fans. Even though this album is of such high quality, it’s certainly not perfect, as no album should be. I want to hear where you transition, I want a little but of dust on the vinyl, you know? This is really a fantastic, chill-out album and a great note to start a year in electronic music on. A!

Fourtet’s Site