Four Tet interview

October 12, 2005: http://excal.on.ca/cms2//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=947&Itemid=2

As I hear nothing but silence on my phone, I realize Kieran Hebden (better known by his stage name Four Tet) and I have been disconnected for the sixth time. This will be the last time, after the irritation we have both put up with over the past 25 minutes (including my recorder being on the wrong setting and not recording the first take of our interview).

It's never easy being on the road and having to conduct interviews via cellular phone from Connecticut to Mississauga. But, as the London, England native says, "[Touring] is all part of the job." And the release of his fourth album Everything Ecstatic has brought (or will bring him) all over the world, including multiple Canadian stops. In fact, after the release of the album, his only tour stops were two Canadian dates, one of which was a set at the Ottawa Bluesfest that I was able to catch.

The name Four Tet has been tossed around by many music critics in the last couple of years and most people that I talked to before the set were familiar with his handle but not the music. After his set though, everyone remembered his name and his sound.

Everything Ecstatic reflects the somewhat more aggressive nature of his live sets, rather than continuing with the more plaintive nature of his earlier albums. His previous album, Rounds, in particular, landed him with the title "folktronica", a title given to him by the indie-music press that he dismisses as "bullshit".

"I don't even like trying to describe my own music," he says. "The word ‘folk' doesn't really have much to do with what I'm doing." His music shifts forms from song to song, album to album and even from minute to minute. The electronic element is the only constant throughout. Nearly all of his music is constructed using computer programs like Cakewalk and a sequencer, with occasional samples of his guitar or vibraphone being the only live instrumentation he has implemented. His latest work has brought him rave reviews from such literature as the Village Voice Dusted and The Wire.

Hebden says he draws on influences from "anything, from hip hop to punk to techno . . . everything in my life comes into what I'm doing. Music is just part of my everyday routine." This influence shows in the diverse nature of his music, which has especially expanded on Everything Ecstatic. The album swings from bass-driven romps like the opening "A Joy" to slower, more thoughtful and moving jams like "And Then Patterns", with many tracks using samples of free-jazz drumming to provide more realistic propulsion.

Initially making his mark in the post-rock group Fridge, Hebden found solo success when Fridge went on hiatus and his supposed one-off project dubbed "Four Tet" started to take off. Now he has come much further as he has done remix work for Radiohead and MF Doom, produced an album for Beth Orton and recorded covers of Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" and Jimi Hendrix's "Castles Made Of Sand". This is in addition to the four full-length records he has put out on Domino Records, home of acts like Franz Ferdinand and former Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus.

The future for Four Tet includes finishing up his North American tour (which came to Toronto on Sept. 23) and travelling back to the UK with Texan post-rockers Explosions in the Sky. Hopefully there will be a new Fridge album in the new year and after everything else, a much-deserved break. In the meantime, the man himself claims: "I just hope to make music that's a bit different than what's out there. Just keep moving forward. I have no interest in covering the same ground again and again."