Four Tet, Ellie Goulding – In My Dreams [TSZR]

Four Tet enlists Ellie Goulding for a collaborative standalone single, ‘In My Dreams’, out now Three Six Zero Recordings. The pair previously collaborated on ‘Baby’ from Four Tet’s 2020 album ‘Sixteen Oceans’, and the producer also provided a Grammy-nominated remix for Goulding’s 2022 track ‘Easy Lover’.

Having been teased for fans since late Spring, most recently at his Finsbury Park All Dayer, ‘In My Dreams’ charges out the gate with all the excitement a new Four Tet track warrants. What begins with an aggressive BPM and wobbly bass slowly unfurls into something more melodic. Bells and chimes soften the track before Goulding soars in, her wispy voice a perfect partner for Kieran Hebden’s typically more subdued oeuvre.

“At the end of last year, Ellie texted me with a couple of voice notes for a song idea. Words and melodies she was singing into her phone, and she asked me if I could use them to make something. She’s told me in the past she likes to send me vocals that I can just use as sound and turn into whatever I want (which is how our song ‘Baby’ happened a few years ago). I found other noises to go with it and made ‘In My Dreams.’ She added some new vocal parts, but we ended up keeping the voice note recordings as the main vocal. I guess the first take is often the most magical. I wanted to make something that was all about juxtaposing harsh, aggressive sound with the delicate and intimate.” – Four Tet.