If the London-based Four Tet’s third album, ‘Rounds’ confirmed Kieran Hebden to be master of ceremonies in the laptop-come-bedroom musician stakes and something of a contradiction in terms to boot, then ‘Everything Ecstatic’ should complicate matters further with its uneasy and often disturbing potpourri of buzz-saw jazz, ambient and loop heavy electronica.
Whereas ‘Rounds’ focused on the all-together more beautiful organic matter of gentle European folk music, ‘Everything Ecstatic’ whittles a considerably more rough-edged beast based around mutating percussive samples, delicate chimes and buzzing techno bass riffs. Classic examples of Hebden’s hall of mirrors on this album include the crisp, clear drill of ‘A Joy’, the grin-inducing euphoria and shuffling, layered loops of ‘Smile Around The Face’ and the morphing organ sequences of ‘Sleep, Eat Food, Have Visions’.
Fans of the more provincial and accessible Lemon Jelly may suffer some minor disappointments in the less sequential handling of the material, but a similar uplifting joy may yet prevail.