Single review: Four Tet - Love Cry (Joy Orbison Remix)

Over two and a half years have zoomed on by since Four Tet released Ringers, a hypnotic tease of an EP that swayed towards an experimental, repetitive techno pulse. Hermetic Londoner Kieren Hebden this month released a new limited edition 12" before much anticipated full length album There Is Love In You follows on the 25th. His abstract approach to production amasses inspiration from jazz, hip hop, soul, folk and techno, whilst putting large emphasis on live instrumentation. It's the way in which Hebden defies genre that results in something so uniquely individual and abstract - taking the superlative nature of each generic sound and remoulding them in to his own innovative hybrid.

The A-side of his new single, 'Love Cry', reveals opposing messages within a 9 minute narrative; of sitting in a concrete room stripped of animation with only the pacification of regret and photographic evidence of a past lover for company, while a subdued bass-light melody induces you into a dream-like celebration, much like the result of his previous EP. The revealing, industrial intro is vacuous and distant, interrupted by a funky trip-hop drum roll, eventually dimming before a harmonious vocal sings 'love cry' - as if the two cannot be separated - echoing a reality of life. The rhythm stretches, lulling you into a trance before snapping you back to attention. Retrospective cries of 'love me' pulsate on repeat as if a desperate plea of the obsessed. A final surge of acid house blips lay the subtly disjointed message to rest.

Man of the moment, Joy Orbison, puts his illuminating spin on 'Love Cry' by breaking the vocal into a dreamy stupor and radiating it over a soulful, contemporary garage beat with hints of nu jazz. The vintage sound of a vinyl needle implies a pre-90's production, further warming you to the melody. Synth build ups drop into ethereal electro bleeps while Orbison keeps hold of Hebden's love of percussion, overall expressing a sense of freedom.

While his and Hebden's creations aren't what you'd expect to hear blasted through big speakers in an inside venue, they create an overwhelming atmospheric space in which you can kick back and let the mind float to it's favourite place, wherever you are when listening.

Enjoy.