Four Tet

Four Tet—the solo project of multi-instrumentalist, producer and all-round music obsessive Kieran Hebden (born September 1977 in Putney, London)—has built a reputation for boundary-pushing, sonic innovation by mixing jazz, rock and classical arrangements into dramatic electronic soundtracks. Signing his first record deal at just 15 with post-rockers Fridge, he enthusiastically absorbed every musical genre, technique, and experience he could find before starting to release solo material in 1997 and becoming ever more involved with DJ and dance culture. Often dubbed folktronica, his sound on early albums Dialogue (1999) and Pause (2001) was influenced by an incredibly obscure record collection that included French free jazz, harpist Alice Coltrane, Malian legend Toumani Diabaté and psychedelic orchestra leader Sun Ra alongside the 1990s jungle and drum and bass scene and producers such as Aphex Twin. His classic record Rounds (2003) received a 5/5 rating from The Guardian and he supported Radiohead on tour before becoming renowned as a re-mixer for the likes of Beth Orton, Bloc Party, The XX and Thom Yorke. Later work There Is Love (2010) reached Number 35 in the UK album charts and the more robotic, techno-inspired Beautiful Rewind (2013) was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize. He remains one of UK music's mavericks, always creating and conjuring up weird and wonderful new sounds, such as those heard on his ninth studio album New Energy (2017) or the ambient house of eleventh studio offering Parallel (2020). In 2024, he bagged a number one on the UK Dance Albums Chart with twelfth album Three, which landed that March via Text Records. The LP also cracked the mainstream pop chart at number 66.