Four Tet - New Energy

Four Tet
New Energy
2017
Spotify

IDM (intellectual dance music) is hands down one of the douchiest genre names of all time. I hate it with a firey passion yet it cuts right to the heart of what Four Tet actually is. A new Four Tet album always means a push forward, something experimental and something you didn't expect. What Four Tet does on New Energy however is dive back through his past to see if there is not some more gold to mine. That is not to say this album is not progressive or forward thinking, because it certainly is, but instead of trying to fully reinvent himself Four Tet has decided to have some fund with sounds He's comfortable with. Having toured constantly and worked with huge names of the past few years it seems like Four Tet's horizons have expanded. "LA Trance" is the first look at a more uptempo Four Tet and it comes just at the right moment filling the space with this super trancey sound but instead of being small it just grows and grows. With "Tremper" you get this really weird spacial quality to it, never quite landing at any one point but then spilling perfectly into one of the true bangers of the album "Lush". It manages to both laid back and very dancey appealing to either set of fans. One of the things I struggle with about Four Tet is how long He takes to get to the damn point sometimes and He does plenty of that here with some songs seeming to just trail off into nothing, however beautiful they may be to listen to.

He uses the shorter songs usually only about a minute and a half as build up for what is coming next. What this means in practice is the usually your perception of a song ends up being much longer than it is if you aren't following along. You tend to get lost in a Four Tet album and that's the point; he doesn't want you to know where you are going, where you have been or what to do once you get there just be ready for an experience regardless. "You Are Loved" gives you that sense of place, and the combination of techno and some truly beautiful bells is really stunning. The best of the interlude tracks come from "10 Midi" which should be about 10 minutes longer than it's 75 second runtime. Whether is the down in the trenches techno of "9W9 9SL" or the more personal and heartfelt "Daughter" Four Tet has proven once again why He is one of the best at what He does. It is often hard to pin him down and hence you tend to get a bit of confusion with the direction this album is supposed to go, but that's the point, He wants you to be surprised and to expect the unexpected. New Energy is one of Four Tet's albums to date and one you really should not miss.

8.9 out of 10