Morning/Evening

Morning/Evening
Studio album by Four Tet
Released 21 June 2015 (2015-06-21)
Recorded August 2014 – February 2015
Genre Electronic
Length 40:17
Label Text Records
Producer Kieran Hebden
Four Tet chronology
Beautiful Rewind
(2013)		 Morning/Evening
(2015)

Morning/Evening is the eighth full-length solo album by British electronic musician Kieran Hebden, released under his alias Four Tet in 2015 by Hebden's own Text Records and via the online music store Bandcamp. As a child, Hebden had inherited a collection of Hindu devotional music from his late grandfather but did not listen to it until his maternal grandmother died during the making of his 2013 album, Beautiful Rewind. After sampling the voice of Indian playback singer Lata Mangeshkar, Hebden was inspired to make a record with a similar structure to Indian music, particularly the raga mode and decided to break the album into a "Morning Side" and an "Evening Side". Alongside the sampled vocals, Morning/Evening contains complex drum programming, electronic sounds and "manipulation of found audio recordings".

Morning/Evening was announced in May 2015, with an expected release date of July 2015, though it was subsequently made available for streaming and digital download from Hebden's Bandcamp page on 21 June 2015 in order to celebrate the summer solstice. Music critics praised Hebden for continuing to release challenging and unique electronic music, though some reviewers felt that the vocal sample on "Morning Side" was too prominent in the mix. After receiving a physical release, Morning/Evening became Hebden's second highest charting album to date, peaking at number 48 in the UK Albums Chart.

Recording and composition

Kieran Hebden, who is of Indian descent,[1] had acquired a collection of Hindu devotional music from his late grandfather when he was ten years old but had never listened to it.[2] When his maternal grandmother died during the making of his 2013 album Beautiful Rewind,[2] Hebden played some of the records he had inherited and began experimenting with sampling Indian playback singer Lata Mangeshkar's voice, looping a sample for three days[3] before deciding to base an album around it.[1]

"Morning Side" samples the voice of Indian playback singer Lata Mangeshkar.

Hebden wanted to make a record with a similar structure to Indian music, particularly the raga mode,[2] and decided to break the album into a "Morning Side" and an "Evening Side" since many ragas relate to certain times of the day.[2] Hebden also drew influences from English electronic music group Autechre and early electronic music, including American electronic composer Morton Subotnick's 1967 composition Silver Apples of the Moon, and wanted the album's production to sound like a low fidelity recording, while maintaining moments of high fidelity.[2]

Morning/Evening contains two tracks of electronic sounds and "skittering" drum programming[4] with a total running time of 40 minutes.[5] "Morning Side" features prominent vocal samples[6] from Mangeshkar's performance of "Main Teri Chhoti Behana Hoon", recorded for the 1983 Hindi-language feature film Souten,[7][8] coupled with complex drum programming[5][4] and arpeggiated synthesizers.[5] "Evening Side", which also features a sample of filmi music,[8] begins with guitar, drones and "sparse" keyboards.[6] It contains a conclusion that features a garage rhythm,[5] with Hebden wanting the end of the album to feature "the most hectic, percussive part" in order to emphasize evening's relationship with nightclubs.[2] The song fades out at the end "to implicate that the music went to infinity."[2] Hebden recorded the album between August 2014 and February 2015, using a laptop running the music sequencer Ableton Live "to control and mix VST synthesizers and manipulations of found audio recordings".[9]

Release

Morning/Evening was announced by Hebden on 6 May 2015, with an expected release date of July 2015.[9] No marketing campaign was used.[1] Hebden performed the album for the first time at the Mayfield Depot in Manchester as part of The Warehouse Project on 17 June 2015.[10] Hebden subsequently decided to issue the album early, making it available for streaming and digital download from his page at online music store Bandcamp on 21 June 2015 in order to celebrate the summer solstice because he thought it was "a lovely day".[1] Hebden included tracks from Morning/Evening in his live set at the 2015 Electric Forest Festival in Rothbury, Michigan.[11] It was released on compact disc and vinyl on 10 July by Hebden's own label, Text Records.[12] Morning/Evening entered the UK Albums Chart during the week commencing 23 July 2015 and became Hebden's second highest charting album to date, peaking at number 48.[13]

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic77/100[14]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[15]
Consequence of SoundB[7]
Exclaim!9/10[6]
NME8/10[16]
The Observer[17]
Pitchfork Media7.7/10.0[4]
PopMatters[5]
Resident Advisor3.7/5[18]
Spin8/10[8]
XLR8R7/10[19]

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, Morning/Evening received an average score of 77, based on 17 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[14] Exclaim! reviewer Chad Barnes called it "a gorgeous, daring album", saying that "Hebden spins intricate sonic gold while subtly exploring a range of moods and moments on the complex, constantly morphing compositions".[6] Kitty Empire, writing for The Observer, said that it was a "low key treat" that contained "effortless prettiness."[17] Pitchfork Media reviewer Andy Beta called the album "daring and expansive" and said that "the scope and ambition of Morning/Evening is profound, and will hopefully inspire producers to take bigger chances and not be satisfied with pop- or club-friendly lengths."[4] A reviewer for NME called "Morning Side" "one of the most moving pieces of music Hebden has ever put his name to" and said that Morning/Evening ranked "alongside Four Tet's very best work."[16] Critic Nina Corcoran of Consequence of Sound said that "Hebden has done what he does best: create an atmosphere so encompassing that you lose sight of wherever you are while you're listening",[7] while Spin magazine's Dan Weiss called the album "ambitious" and said that it was "beautiful in its own right, if you’re patient."[8]

In his review for PopMatters, Casey Hardmeyer called the album both "classic Four Tet" and "a step in a new direction for the veteran producer." Hardmeyer felt that the vocal sample on "Morning Side" was too prominent in the mix, saying that "Side two, "Evening Side", is where Hebden really shines" and praised Hebden for continuing to release challenging and unique music "in an electronica landscape that's increasingly devoid of it".[5] XLR8R's Chas Reynolds said that while the album's "narrative ambivalence" might not make Morning/Evening Hebden's most "immediate" record, it lent Morning/Evening a "near infinite replay value."[19] AllMusic's Andy Kellman said that the album "isn't among the most substantive Four Tet albums, but it does reward repeated casual listening."[15] Angus Finlayson, reviewing the album for Resident Advisor, called the album "the prettiest Four Tet record in some time" and said that "in its best moments, Morning/Evening is perfectly paced." Finlayson highlighted the "vagueness" of the record's "disparate material" but concluded that "even with these faults [...] Hebden has brought a refreshing addition to his discography."[18]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Kieran Hebden[20]. 

No. Title Length
1. "Morning Side"   20:24
2. "Evening Side"   19:53

Charts

Chart (2015) Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[21] 94
UK Albums (OCC)[13] 48

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.[20]

Additional personnel

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Pattison, Louis (11 July 2015). "Four Tet: 'The club is my world now'". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Beta, Andy (16 July 2015). "Four Tet on Ambitious New LP and What It's Like to DJ With Skrillex". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  3. ↑ Lynskey, Dorian (September 2015). "Q Maverick - Kieran Hebden". Q (London: Bauer Media Group) (350): 66.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Beta, Andy (6 July 2015). "Four Tet: Morning/Evening". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hardmeyer, Casey (10 July 2015). "Four Tet: Morning/Evening". PopMatters. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Barnes, Chad (29 June 2015). "Four Tet Morning/Evening". Exclaim!. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 Corcoran, Nina (30 June 2015). "Four Tet – Morning/Evening". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Weiss, Dan (25 June 2015). "Review: Four Tet Lets the Light Win on the Brightly Raga-Tinged 'Morning/Evening'". Spin. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
  9. 1 2 Minsker, Evan (21 June 2015). "Four Tet Streams Morning/Evening". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  10. ↑ Goble, Corban (6 May 2015). "Four Tet Announces New Album Morning/Evening". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  11. ↑ Garber, David (30 June 2015). "Electric Forest 2015: Surprises From Skrillex and Macy Gray (Yes, Really) Made The Dream World Come Alive". Vice. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
  12. ↑ Dean Van Nguyen (21 June 2015). "Four Tet streams new album 'Morning/Evening' – listen". NME. Time Inc. (UK) Ltd. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  13. 1 2 "Fourtet | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  14. 1 2 "Reviews for Morning/Evening". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  15. 1 2 Kellman, Andy. "Morning/Evening - Four Tet". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  16. 1 2 "NME Reviews - Four Tet - 'Morning/Evening'". NME. 7 July 2015. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  17. 1 2 Empire, Kitty (5 July 2015). "Four Tet: Morning/Evening review – a low-key treat". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  18. 1 2 Finlayson, Angus (16 July 2015). "RA Reviews: Four Tet - Morning/Evening on Text Records (Album)". Resident Advisor. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  19. 1 2 Reynolds, Chas (11 July 2015). "Four Tet Morning/Evening". XLR8R. SpinMedia. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  20. 1 2 Morning/Evening (CD booklet). Four Tet. London: Text Records. 2015. TEXT036CD.
  21. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Four Tet – Morning / Evening" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 24 July 2015.

External links

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