Bleep

Back on his own Text Records with his first new material in over a year, Kieran Hebden returns to his Four Tet name to drop a single with a stark day and night contrast. Following a contribution to Eat Your Own Ears, as well highly anticipated DJ set centrepieces released under his KH alias, Mango Feedback lands two years after the stunning Sixteen Oceans, presenting a clean divide between the spectrum of ecstatic dance and emotive ambience that his releases have leaned in either direction of.

‘Mango Feedback’ and ‘Watersynth’ are like two sides of the same coin, liquid sounds moving through extroverted peaks and introverted valleys. On one side we have upbeat and energetic two-step, fluid rhythms churning across the dancefloor; on the other, we have mysterious and murky synth explorations summoned from the deep. ‘Mango Feedback’ kicks off vibrantly with a jumping, crunchy beat, coloured with rebounding, razor sharp zither plucks, and pads that add a dreamlike quality. What sounds like kalimba trickles underneath jet engine propulsions of noise, before being snapped back to the track’s bouncing dance energy. ‘Watersynth’, meanwhile, bobs gently downstream, its bubbling arpeggios rising from hydrothermal vents with curious synths gargling like a robot that has its head dunked underwater, soft rays of light emanating from above the surface.

Four Tet showcases opposite sides of his compelling electronic repertoire on his latest musical endeavour.