Tongues - Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid

Tongues

Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid
Domino Records.

SCQ Rating: 51%

When Kieran met Steve. I’ve read the story and I forget it now, but that’s hardly important. What’s interesting is that a twenty-something electronic prodigy like Hebden (of Four Tet and Fridge) and a sixty-something jazz great (who recorded alongside Sun Ra, Miles Davis, etc.) found an instant life-bond through music, and have now collaborated on four releases. After hearing their impressive Exchange Sessions, which exercised the spirit of improvisation between their two genres, I looked forward to Tongues – a full record and, as hyped, their (official) musical statement.

Things begin promisingly with ‘The Sun Never Sets’, a proudly amateurish laser-beam melody that see-saws over Reid’s signature percussion. Hebden takes his loops of noise over the edge, absolutely, but since this record boasts that “all tracks are live takes with no overdubs or edits”, I expect some abrasive moments. On cue, ‘Brain’ dances in and is even better, showcasing a duo who do have an audible synergy together, trading the stage between busy drums and buzzing keyboards.

The pros of these unedited recordings are that you can trace their compatibility from the beginnings of collaboration. In Tongues, you can sense that Hebden and Reid are more comfortable with each other than on The Exchange Sessions; Hebden, especially, seems less hesitant to throw down electronic gauntlets and potentially step on Reid’s shoes. And while we can’t see them nod or give a thumbs-up while performing, you can feel when their improvisations hit upon a worthy groove and they decide to stick with it. ‘Our Time’ is a sedated beat with some pretty Four Tet flourishes, and is successful because they keep it simple.

The cons are that, most often, Tongues is spent looking for that worthy groove or making it complicated. ‘People Be Happy’ is a warm-up that never makes it to the race, settling on a boring drum score that shouldn’t be on disc. Sadly, there are several obvious cases of this meandering to study, as if proving that because neither know where to take these songs, they shrug and move on. I can write a better melody than ‘The Squid’ with a rock and some Kleenex, but that’s the point: so can Hebden. There are moments in nearly every song where it sounds like Hebden just wants Reid to toss him a bone (or basically do anything other than keep time on his drum-kit). Reid’s complacently dull drumming disarms some great contributions from Hebden, and usually gives him no other option but to drown the song in a barrage of effects.

I’m not arguing that talent is lacking here – there’s abundance in both brains behind this partnership, but if Tongues was supposed to be their statement, it’s a declaration of compromise.