GENRE: Electronic/Folk/Country/ Experimental
LABEL: Temporary Residence Ltd.
REVIEWED: 23rd September, 2025
RATING: 7.7/10
Kieran Hebden and William Tyler’s 41 Longfield Street Late ’80s is a record steeped in memory, atmosphere, and subtle reinvention. Released in September 2025, the collaboration finds Hebden, better known as Four Tet, and Nashville-born guitarist Tyler meeting halfway between their worlds: the textured electronics of one and the warm Americana of the other. The title itself gestures toward Hebden’s childhood home in South-West London, where his father’s record collection introduced him to the American country and folk sounds that shaped his early listening. Tyler, whose upbringing in Nashville was similarly marked by the legacy of songwriters and guitarists, brings a parallel sensibility. The result is an album that feels both deeply personal and quietly expansive.
The record opens with a bold gesture: an eleven-minute cover of Lyle Lovett’s “If I Had a Boat.” Tyler’s intricate picking sets the foundation while Hebden’s electronics gather slowly, like fog around a shoreline. It’s a statement of intent, not just a tribute but a reframing, stretching a familiar folk song into something meditative and layered. From there, the album drifts into “Spider Ballad,” one of the most overtly electronic moments, where soft pulses and shimmering synths frame Tyler’s guitar, finding a balance between rhythm and ambience. Interludes like “I Want an Antenna” and “Loretta Guides My Hands Through the Radio” may be fleeting, but they act as atmospheric bridges, grounding the album in the feeling of tuning a radio late at night, catching fragments of music and memory.
What stands out across the album is its restraint. Hebden rarely overwhelms Tyler’s guitar; instead, he amplifies its emotional weight with gentle drones, minimal beats, and delicate textures. In “Timber” and “When It Rains,” the pairing feels especially organic, guitar melodies drifting like echoes over subtle washes of sound. By the time the closing track, “Secret City,” arrives, the record has settled into a space of calm reflection, ending on one of its most moving and emotionally resonant passages.
Thematically, the record is about more than musical collaboration. It’s about heritage, nostalgia, and the act of listening across time and geography. The late ’80s frame of the title hints at the formative years both artists spent discovering music, and the album reimagines those influences without falling into simple revivalism. It is not an Americana record in disguise, nor is it a typical Four Tet release; instead, it builds a shared language between two musicians who understand the power of space and subtlety.
Critics have praised the album’s ambition and emotional core, noting how it manages to honor its roots while sounding contemporary. Some listeners may find its pacing slow or its interludes slight, and those expecting Hebden’s more beat-driven work or Tyler’s more conventional Americana might be surprised by its subdued mood. Yet for those willing to sit with it, 41 Longfield Street Late ’80s offers a transportive experience, one that feels both intimate and expansive, like paging through old photographs while hearing ghostly echoes of songs from another room.
In the end, it is a record less about spectacle than about resonance. Hebden and Tyler do not attempt to dazzle with virtuosity or studio trickery; they lean into atmosphere, patience, and memory. That choice makes the album all the more affecting. It is not just a meeting of two artists but a weaving together of past and present, London and Nashville, folk and electronics. It lingers quietly, and that’s its greatest strength.
