The tenth studio album from the U.K.’s Kieran Hebden is valid… not exceptional. Sixteen Oceans is the consistent and rigorous album of an artist who has refined his aesthetic over two decades, following the flow of the same original inspiration. Inspired? Yes. Redundant? Pretty much, yes. Here is the tenth iteration of a familiar, appreciated, celebrated approach, that can be agreed upon. Let’s look at the materials: an anthology of sounds treated, filtered, or left intact adorn this electronic music; harmonies and consonant melodies are set over electronic styles of different allegiances – techno, house, krautrock – mostly intended for the dancefloor. Other “movements” bring things down a notch, the sounds hover, the ambient choices are judicious for the most part. Singer Ellie Goulding participates on the single “Baby”, so as to add a more pop flavour to the affair. What do you think? Let’s not deny our immediate pleasure but… we have to face the fact that Four Tet’s progress is thin on Sixteen Oceans. The artist’s harmonic vision is reaching its limits, his rhythmic knowledge is limited to the known terrain of electronic music, the organisation of sounds only admits of micro-reforms. Hebden won’t be able to milk this cow for a long time with this same mixture, lest he reconcile himself to becoming a figure of electro nostalgia, to which his successors will refer with admiration… which is commendable in itself.
Latest 360 Content
Album review art rock/psychédélique/Rock/rock n’ roll 2025
Jeff Bridges – Slow Magic, 1977-1978
By Stephan Boissonneault
Concert review Electronic
Piknic Electronik | DJ Fuckoff Turns Up The Heat for Pep Rally
By Rédaction PAN M 360
Interview Classical/classique
Orford 2025 | Collectif9: folk that innovates and grooves
By Frédéric Cardin
Concert review Africa
Nuits d’Afrique 2025 | The next global star of Tuareg blues is born, and it is in Montreal
By Frédéric Cardin
Interview classique/Classical
Lanaudière Festival | The Sparkle of Strauss, Schumann, and Brahms in Joliette
By Alexandre Villemaire
Interview classique/Classical
Festival de Lanaudière | Franco Fagioli and the voice of bel canto
By Alexandre Villemaire
Concert review Africa/Electronic/latino
Nuits d’Afrique | El Gato Negro, A Feline Like No Other
By Sandra Gasana
Concert review Gnawa
Nights of Africa 2025 | A gnawa fusion reactor named Saïd Mesnaoui
By Frédéric Cardin
Concert review Africa
Nuits d’Afrique 2025 | Sousou and Maher Cissoko: benevolence and complicity
By Frédéric Cardin
Concert review Classical/classique
Festival de Lanaudière | A Successful Choral Evening for Akamus
By Alexis Desrosiers-Michaud
Interview classique/Classical
Festival d’art vocal de Montréal | Training the Next Generation of Lyric Artists, From Voice to Stage Direction
By Alexandre Villemaire
Concert review Soul/R&B/Traditional
Nuits d’Afrique | Soul Bang’s, The King of Improvisation
By Sandra Gasana
Concert review Africa/Mandingo Blues/Soul/R&B
Nuits d’Afrique | Tyrane Mondeny: The Rising Star Has Reached Her Destination
By Sandra Gasana
Interview Hip Hop/Jazz/Pop
Nuits d’Afrique | El Gato Negro, The Sound of Subtropical Pop
By Keithy Antoine
Concert review Brazilian