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Three
To many fans, Kieran Hebden must have seemed an incongruous presence DJ-ing alongside Skrillex and Fred Again around the world’s arenas and festival circuits last year. Any fears of Hebden pivoting towards EDM bangers for festival bros on his 12th Four Tet album are allayed, however, by just how reassuringly Four Tet-like Three is. Exquisitely put together, the record encapsulates so many of the sounds and textures Hebden has been perfecting over the past two decades that it almost plays out like a mood board greatest hits. Organic instruments rustle and crackle like leaves in the undergrowth, beats skim across beatific drifts of sound, electronic gurgles bubble up and down and Hebden – one time guitarist in post-rockers Fridge - even dusts off his six string for the Boards of Canada-like “Skater.” As his live shows attest, Hebden can more than pull off showboating fireworks for the crowds when called upon, but back in the perfectly balanced biosphere he’s been cultivating for so long, he remains the master.