Four Tet Saving Sound Guys Everywhere

During a recent soundcheck in Toronto, Kieran Hebden (a.k.a. Four Tet) plugged his computer into the soundboard and clicked away at the program on screen. The concert hall suddenly filled with the roar of rattling, off-kilter drum beats. With the loop still playing, he jumped off the stage and ran to the centre of the dance floor halfway from the two main speakers. He listened carefully. Then he hopped back on stage, turned a few dials, and turned off the noise.

"Ok, great," Hebden says to the soundman. "Thanks.""That's it?" the soundman replied in astonishment.

"Yep."

"Ha, well, that was easy," he says. "If only everyone was like you."

The soundman sat back on his chair and finished eating his dinner. Unlike the other bands on the bill, with racks of equipment and instruments to test, Kieran Hebden was a one-man, one-computer show.

Although his equipment may look easy to set up, the music he makes is far more complex and nuanced than any four-piece band. With a mere keyboard, he has attracted a worldwide fan base. It was his second album, Rounds (2003), that put him on the A-list of indie-electronic rock (or however you categorize his music) personalities.

At its core, Rounds was a sample-based record that mixed hip-hop with rock and tweaked it in the spirit of his heroes, John Coltrane and Miles Davis. Geeky, enthusiastic music fans took to this kaleidoscopic sound that melds accessible beats and quirky noises, tempered with an artsy edge. Yet fans that bought Rounds will have to adjust their taste to enjoy his latest release, Everything Ecstatic. This round, Hebden has moved away from the lazy, minimal beats in favour of a bigger sound. Part of the reason, he says, was he simply put more focus into recording. He spent two intensive months working on the new record, whereas he spent a full year to record Rounds during gaps in his social calendar. He says this burst of energy bled into the music.

"[Everything Ecstatic] has a more aggressive sound, its more outgoing," Hebden says.

As proof, the first song on Everything Ecstatic begins with thunderous drums and crashing instrumentation on the verge of breakdown.

"I wanted to deliver a message the second you put it on. I wanted it to be clear straight away that I didn't want to beat around the bush," he says.

Hebden says his change in musical temperature does not reflect an elitist desire to be different for the sake of being original. Instead, he is inspired by his aforementioned heroes, who were famous for experimenting.

"Miles Davis constantly pushed his music until he died. To look back on a career like that is really inspiring," he says. "He dealt with endless criticism... and I think great artists care about doing something that will have some integrity over time."I think it would have been disastrous if I had said, 'Oh, I am feeling comfortable, I am going to carry on doing the same thing.' I thought it was more important than ever to make sure I came up with something new for the record."

During this tour, Four Tet shared the stage with Caribou, led by frontman Dan Snaith. It's no coincidence that both musicians share the same touring schedule. Hebden and Snaith — who met in London — are long-time friends who share the same passion for obscure music and, of all things, mathematics. Last year, they both worked on their albums during the same few months. During breaks in the recording sessions, they met to swap records and share ideas.

"It doesn't surprise me that people see endless kinds of parallels," Hebden admits. While their studio albums sound similar, their approach to playing live reveals the differences. Snaith tours with two drummers and recreates his samples using real instruments. Hebden will continue to tour with his computer because humans are just not capable of keeping up the pace.

"Every single sound of mine is humanly impossible," Hebden says. "That is one of the beauties of it as far as I am concerned. [But] I think that getting musicians would be a step backwards. I am interested in taking human impossibility further."

And he can keep those soundchecks short.