Four Tet - Sixteen Oceans (Vinyl 2LP)

Sixteen Oceans is the tenth studio album from Four Tet, the alias of British producer Kieran Hebden. It is an electronic record that moves between warm ambient passages and club-ready house. It was released on 13 March 2020 through Hebden's own Text Records as the follow-up to 2017's New Energy. The album runs to sixteen tracks across nearly 55 minutes, all produced by Hebden, who announced it with a photo of a Post-it note carrying the title and tracklist. Three singles came first: 'Teenage Birdsong' in April 2019, 'Baby' featuring vocals from Ellie Goulding in January 2020, and '4T Recordings' ten days before release. The album reached number 34 on the UK Albums Chart. It arrived in the first weeks of the pandemic, and Hebden said at the time that he hoped the music would help people through an intense moment. The vinyl edition carries something the digital version lacks. Side D is given over to sixteen short untitled pieces, each cut as a locked groove. This Text Records pressing presents the album across two LPs and four sides. It sits naturally beside Floating Points, Caribou and Jon Hopkins.