Happiness

Although still in their twenties, London-based Fridge’s career has already seen the release of three albums, a spell as Badly Drawn Boy’s backing band, and in the case of Kieran Hebden, the foundation of his own label and subsequently the superb Four Tet project. For their fourth record, Hebden and band mates Sam Jeffers and Adam Ihan have opted for the minimalist route, eschewing any uptempo elements for a familiarly chilly yet elastic soundscape, expanding far enough to take in elements of contemplative jazz and even modern classical.

Songtitles convey the basic musical elements contained within: ‘Drums, Bass, Sonics And Edits’, and ‘Samples And Clicks’ will give you some idea of what to expect, but don’t do full justice to the brilliantly realised range of ideas on offer. Tracks like ‘Drum Machines And Glockenspiel’ and ‘Melodica And Trombone’ see the band navigating basic grooves through a number of arresting detours, laying on instrumentation often neglected by even the most experimental artists operating in ‘post-rock’ land.

Of the groups to be found in the general vicinity of that genre incidentally, Fridge have a lot more in common with the low-key ambience of, say, Labradford than they do with the skull shattering aural assaults of Mogwai or Slint (though David Pajo’s quieter moments definitely haunt Happiness). Esoteric for sure, but a taste worth acquiring.