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It's been a long time coming - six years, in fact -
but 4Hero finally return from the wilderness.
Having played an important part in the development
of drum and bass in the 1990s, Marc Mac and
Dego MacFarlane used the success of the Mercury
nominated Two Pages album to move into more exotically
scored, jazzier affairs that culminated with their
swooning cover of Minnie Riperton's Les Fleurs.
Subsequent album Play With The Changes has occupied
them all that time since.
With that comes the danger that they've spent too
much time with the record and overproduced it. That
thought is momentarily extinguished by the brightly
toned Morning Child with which the album opens, a
crisp string section backing Carina Andersson's
winsome vocals. But by the end of the album it's back.
The feeling is that, superbly produced as this record
is, the polish is just too thickly applied.
The potentially edgy, jazzy feel to some tracks is
therefore masked by its orchestral sheen. The cover of
Stevie Wonder's Superwoman is strangely lacking
in funk or verve. Gonna Give It Up features a low
range vocal that, though pleasant enough, doesn’t
offer much in the way of energy.
In addition the use of well over a dozen guests
threatens to make the album sound like more of a
compilation. Face makes two endearing
contributions in Look Inside and Stoke Up The Fire,
while the ever reliable Ursula Rucker threatens
to steal the show with Awakening. The uniting feature
is the 4Hero beats, at their most effective when
crisply splicing up the orchestration. But when they
fail to do that, the album plods.
If this sounds over-critical, it's an indication of
the high standards 4Hero have set themselves in
previous years. Perhaps now the long wait for an album
is over, they can follow up in double quick time with
a record of more spontaneous invention.
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Mercury Prize 2009 nominees
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