Four Tet Shares New Single “Baby,” Featuring Vocals from Ellie Goulding

Earlier this week, Four Tet announced via Instagram his 10th studio album titled Sixteen Oceans. On Friday, he shared the album’s second track, “Baby.” The song prominently features vocals from British pop artist Ellie Goulding.

Four Tet uses Goulding’s voice liberally, chopping it up and glitching it out during the song’s four-and-a-half-minute runtime. Similar to his previous work, producer Kieran Hebden makes use of plenty of naturally occurring sounds, such as water flowing and birds chirping. The result is an angelic track that makes a lot of use of space, sounding at times aquatic, distant and hauntingly hollow. The song seems to deconstruct itself at its midway point, reassembling to deliver a pulsing beat and danceable grooves. It’s a clear reinterpretation of classic house sounds, down to the use of a massive female pop vocal—it cleverly showcases Hebden’s pop sensibility, as well as his experimental wit.

You can listen to the track below. Sixteen Oceans is set for a March 2020 release. The album is a follow-up to his 2017 release New Energy. The producer has yet to announce a tour in support of the album, but will be appearing at several festivals across the spring and summer, including California’s Lightning in a Bottle in May.