Album Review: Three

Since his start in music, Kieran Hebden has never played it safe. Better known as Four Tet or KH, Kieran Heben is a tasteful crate-digging producer who never fails to fascinate and even troll the watching crowd. With him behind the decks, no song is too taboo.

The remarkable throuple of Four Tet, Skrillex, and Fred again.. are widely recognized to be some of the best artists in their respective realms of dance music. Hebden's energy in this throuples B2B2Bs shows he is as untraditional as they come. At Madison Square Garden last February, Hebden dropped a Romanian minimal tech-house edit of "Love Story," explicitly crafted for his devout Swiftie Daughter. In true mischievous fashion at Coachella, Hebden played the intro of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" before mixing in the obnoxious dubstep drop in "Country Riddim."

Four Tet came to murder when I saw him at Cow Palace with some of my best friends in October. Joining forces with the DoLaB to create a LIB Woogie themed stage, Hebden played from opening to close for about a 5+ hour set, mixing in some of the most scattered yet calculated songs I have ever heard together. Getting a presale ticket in August was one of the best decisions I ever made and I can confidently say that was the best set I have ever seen. When I got there around 9, he was already playing one of my favorite songs, “Passion.” The entire set was a mesmerizing and a truly unique experience with neon pipe structures hanging from the ceiling and most people dressed in Halloween festivities. I never thought I would dance to “Call Me Maybe” alongside 10+ of my friends dressed as Where’s Waldo, and then an hour later dance to his remix of “Pax.” At around midnight, according to my Shazam timestamp, he decides to rip the Minor Threat song “Salad Days” into a noise-y mix of “Lose You To Love Me.” When I thought he had no more surprises, he does a drum and bass breakdown with the song “Bad Ass.”

As unpredictable as Hebden appears on stage, he never fails to produce a solid experimental album with acoustic elements interwoven with dreamy synthesizers, directly contradicting his manic energy when mixing live. Four Tet’s new album Three maintains his instantly recognizable style of IDM and shows that Hebden is finding quieter and subtler ways to surprise his audience.

The opener, "Loved," is a soft, glimmering piece of downtempo electronic music. In a true testament to his old work, this wistful tune maintains the fractured euphoric buildup heard in many of his previous albums. A beatless swill of bells and chimes gives way to light waving through clouds in "Gliding Through Crystals." The bells and chimes fade as the song progresses, adding a hint of darkness. "Storm Crystals" presents a wandering synth melody wrapped over a slow-motion beat, exemplifying Hebden’s bread and butter: a patchwork layer of sound.

The album maintains a forward progression and asserts the many facets of Four Tet's artistry. With "Daydream Repeat" and "31 Bloom," he locks into a more upbeat and dance mood style heard in many of his live solo sets. "Daydream Repeat" points towards his collab with light pioneers Squidsoup at Alexandra Palace. This song holds shades of wistfulness with fizzing hi-hats and aspects of house-inspired rhythm. "31 Bloom," one of my favorites, was mixed as an unreleased track during his Lost Village set. This track visits Hebden's minimal-tech side, reminding me of his previous songs like "Baby" and "Only Human." The upfront dance beats with acoustic instrumentation in “31 Bloom” creates a sustained groove that tickles my brain every time I listen to it.

Guitar is shadowed throughout the entire album, most prevalent in "Skater." This song welcomes a change in pace in the middle of the album with an alt-rock sound. The mellow guitar lines in "Skater" highlight Hebden's time playing guitar in the post-rock band Fridge, displaying his ability to blend genres and explore a vast range of sounds.

Three comes across as merely chill on first listen. Even with another listen or two, the album's strategic layers and depth make it something you will not completely grasp in one sitting. While this is not my favorite Four Tet album, Three is a streamlined eight-track album that embodies Hebden's holistic approach to music production, highlighting some of his best discography throughout the years.