Heavens above, just look at the plaudits already: ‘if there’s anyone who honestly believes that there’s nothing new under the musical sun, this album might just blow your mind’ (Observer), ‘There is an undeniable musical hunger and a pioneering spirit at work here’ (Mojo), ‘utterley mesmeric’ (Q). It seems to my mind at least that the less clued-up you are or the less able you are to really connect with it then the general incidence of wild exaggeration and undisciplined hyperbole is indeed much greater. Like a bunch of Neanderthals seeing fire for the first time or a complete moron landing a correct answer on a multiple choice, your cosy broadsheet hack gets unaccountably giddy at the very suggestion of Four Tet’s Kieran Hebden. Here we have someone we can’t fathom at all doing loads of weird shit with keyboards, samplers, bells and dissonant jazz wotnot and on top of all that there’s that reliable veteran of old-school drumming, Steve Reid fannying around on the skins. ‘Must be good’, he says, ‘this is the fella who drummed on Martha and the Vandella’s ‘Dancing In The Street’. This is the guys who’s worked with such notables as Miles Davis, James Brown and Motown. And then there’s this other guy who’s done remixes for Badly Drawn Boy, Radiohead, Bloc Party and the Super Furry Animals – all the people we like – and what’s more, he’s doing stuff we can barely listen to, nevermind write about. Fucking genius, that’s what it is’. Crikey, you couldn’t be any more uncertain of the outcome than if the entire cast of 24 came fitted from the same wardrobe as the emperor’s new clothes.
The truth of the matter is, this is a less testing proposition than the pair’s recent ‘Exchange Sessions’. It’s more melodic, more soulful, more layered, more disciplined and in the case of tracks like ‘The Sun Never Sets’, ‘Our Time’ and ‘Greensleeves’, it’s arguably more conventional – but it’s not ‘Rounds’ by any means. Elements of techno and jazz abound, but it’s still experimental – challenging rather than satisfying and as eager to please as a kick in the groin.
There really is nothing new under the sun here – but that doesn’t mean to say it’s not illuminating or bereft of some very decent tunes.
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