Four Tet – Smile Around The Face/ Sun Drums And Soil

Served up as an appetiser for forthcoming album ‘Everything Ecstatic’, Four Tet releases this limited edition tangerine coloured 12″ ‘A Smile Around the Face/Sun Drums and Soil’ to get appetites well and truly whetted. Having built up a truly formidable following over the course of three albums, ‘A Smile Around The Sun’ is the first new material to see the light of day in almost two years and as such has an awful lot to live up to. Thankfully the boy Hebden hasn’t been resting on his laurels with A-side ‘A Smile Around the Face’ spinning the trademark Four Tet sound off into an upfront rhythm-heavy yet deeply melodic cascade.This is a delicious refried platter of wide-eyed optimism and twinkle-toed dance floor acumen, delivered in Hebden’s trademark sharp dart style. On the flip, ‘Sun Drums and Soil’ is a break heavy (almost Shadow in places) track that is nevertheless on more familiar Tet territory, even if it does collide with a free jazz session towards the end resulting in an obdurate conclusion. Really good stuff, strictly limited copies only.