Earlier this year Kieran Hebden told dotmusic he called his third album 'Rounds' because his sister had been singing them with her friends.
The other reason is that 'Rounds' describes the effect that the process of sequencing has had on musical structure.
On top of this the title also accurately describes the album's repeating theme - the feeding of organic sounds back into the electronic loop and the following aural collision this creates.
'Rounds' engages your emotions as soon as it opens with 'Hands', a melodic swell, reminiscent of an orchestra pit tuning up, that builds insistently over stumbling beats.
Out of this the first single from Kieran's new set, 'She Moves She', erupts on a crescendo of snapping high hats and snares, before the album settles back into the folksy, harp-like 'First Thing'.
The juxtaposing of contradictory sounds and tempos runs throughout the LP. The brooding beats of 'My Angel Rocks Back and Forth', for example, could have been taken from a Rob Del Naja production, while the looped keyboard lines mimic the child-like innocence of Lemon Jelly.
By contrast 'Spirit Fingers' is a whirlwind of Gamalan chimes, effects and high paced beats, although rhythmically it's less complex than much of Hebden's work.
'Unspoken' begins with a gorilla of a hip hop drum loop, which paces the room and pumps its chest until Kieran picks out the plaintive piano line and transforms the beast of a beat into a sensitive melody.
'As Serious As Your Life' begins like big beat version of 'Day Tripper', while 'And They All Look Broken Hearted' contains the only reference to jazz on the album in its ride cymbal and snare breaks.
To finish things off Kieran saves the best 'til last.
Which isn't because 'Slow Jam' has fine examples of quirky drum programming, interesting effects, hypnotic guitars, and building melodies - although it has all these things.
But because it features the best dog's toy to ever be set to music. Squeaky genius.
by Ben Osborne