41 Longfield Street Late \u201880s<\/em>.<\/p>\nThe original version of \u201cIf I Had A Boat\u201d has vocals and is about three minutes long. The Hebden \/ Tyler cover is instrumental and sails past the 11-minute mark, just in case you were concerned the pairing had fully embraced 80s Americana. Opening with a long, gradually escalating drone before Tyler\u2019s solo guitar plays the theme, it is pretty clear early on that Hebden is going to adopt his approach when tapped up to produce for other people \u2013 particularly James Yorkston and Beth Orton \u2013 which is to do a lot of the heavy lifting in the background without imposing his own style too firmly on the music. Four Tet seems to pack out Alexandra Palace with an audio-visual extravaganza on an annual basis, but there is a reason Hebden\u2019s using his own name for this, the first time since his string of albums with Steve Reid. Bleeps and bloops gradually take over from the guitar strings, but the shift is so gradual, it\u2019s barely noticeable at first.<\/p>\n
The rhythm that underpins \u201cSpider Ballad\u201d is cut from the same cloth \u2013 taking Tyler\u2019s guitar, sampling it and putting it through Hebden\u2019s box of tricks, so it acts as an organic pulse rather than a kick drum beat. If we were to make a crude delineation for this album, there\u2019s more Hebden on side one, and more Tyler in the second half. His guitar chimes like a celeste on \u201cTimber,\u201d and it\u2019s basically unadorned (although multi-layered) on \u201cWhen It Rains\u201d \u2013 at this point, it\u2019s worth mentioning that Hebden played guitar in Fridge, so it\u2019s likely he\u2019s duetting on the six strings here. The duo save the best until last with \u201cSecret City,\u201d which builds on a strident acoustic guitar pattern with slowly building guitar squall in the background. It\u2019s similar to Fridge\u2019s \u201cYears And Years And Years\u2026\u201d that ended their final album, which \u2013 if nothing else \u2013 underlines Hebden\u2019s way with a closing track.<\/p>\n
As the album title indicates, there\u2019s a certain sense of nostalgia permeating the record, although it is hard to detect much Americana from that era remaining as the old styles get chopped up, sampled and twisted around, so there\u2019s not much recognisable left. What is obvious is that Hebden and Tyler are very sympathetic collaborators; these are artists with impressive back catalogues and a recognisable sound who have crafted something fresh. There\u2019s nothing here as abrasive as the opening of Tyler\u2019s Time Indefinite<\/em>, an album that saw him shifting further upriver, away from the \u2018American primitivism\u2019 of earlier work. But 41 Longfield Street Late \u201880s<\/em> confirms that he is one of the more intriguing guitarists out there at the moment, and this is a collaboration that truly delivers. (Jeremy Bye)<\/strong><\/p>\n
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We have covered releases by both William Tyler<\/strong> (as recently as