Four Tet - "Loved"

Four Tet has shared a new song which will be the opening track on his yet-to-be-announced new album due later this year.

Kieran Hebden is no stranger to long-time IDM and club-music fans who've been indulging in downtempo electronic jams since the early 2000's, but after a meteoric year in 2023 where he joined his friends Fred again.. and Skirllex to close out Coachella and throw a rave inside Madison Square Garden, it's easy to understand how many folks have just started to pay attention. If you're expecting some of the banging EDM styles that permeated those friend-filled sets, however, you need to keep searching. "Loved," Kieran's first new song of 2024 hits at a slower pace and it's probably more fitting as a comedown piece after one of those hectic, sweat-soaked parties. A steady drum loop, with a bit of a trip-hop elements, starts things off before distilled piano and Fender Rhodes wash over the track, giving it a glowing pulse that delivers more on the chilled-out, somber side of things vs something you'd expect to drop in front of a crowd of 20,000+. There's a late-90's vibe to it as well, perhaps a hallmark to his post-rock days in the band Fridge, or even to his earlier work on Domino. Similar to last year's excellent "Three Drums," there's a pastoral nature to the track as it glides along over a shuffling beat, glistening as it reflects sparkles from a distant mirror ball. Perhaps not quite the same odyssey-inspiring feelings as some of his other, more grand, statements, but one that feels true to his core body of work.