Biography

Kieran Hebden, the British producer and electronic musician best known as Four Tet, has issued some of his biggest club and festival hits under his initials, KH. These include tracks like "Only Human" (2019) and "Looking at Your Pager" (2022) which had been extensively featured in his DJ sets before their samples were cleared and they were officially released. Since he began releasing music as Four Tet in the late '90s, Hebden's music has combined organic and electronic instrumentation, as well as influences ranging from hip-hop and ambient to folk and spiritual jazz. He occasionally delved into more club-friendly sounds during the 2000s, particularly his remixes and releases like 2008's Ringer EP. A track titled "101112," credited to KH, appeared on Four Tet's FabricLive 59 mix. He began issuing white label singles on his Text imprint, including collaborations with Burial and Thom Yorke (of Radiohead) and a split with Daphni (aka Caribou). A KH single titled "The Track I've Been Playing That People Keep Asking About and That Joy Used in His RA Mix and Daphni Played on Boiler Room," built around a mesmerizing African vocal chant, appeared on Text in early 2013. The U.K. garage-influenced "BACK2THESTART," reportedly composed on a plane, appeared digitally in 2015. "Question," another sought-after track heard in his DJ sets, and essentially an edit of Bobby Powell's 1971 funk song "Question," surfaced in 2017. "Only Human," based around samples of Nelly Furtado's "Afraid," appeared in 2019, again after Hebden and numerous other DJs had featured it in their DJ sets. Issued by dance giant Ministry of Sound, "Only Human" became a staple of clubs and festivals, and Hebden's most widely played track to date. KH's second Ministry of Sound single, a 3LW-sampling earworm titled "Looking at Your Pager," appeared in 2022. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi