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A four-track set that clocks in at a little over half an hour, Four Tet’s Ringer finds Kieran Hebden tweaking techno’s 4/4 beat conventions. “Ribbons” is sparse and glittery, spacious and spacey: its bell-like tinklings and bubbling synths could be the soundtrack to an old sci-fi movie’s space journey, although the understated beats are purely modern. At 5:21, it’s Ringer’s most compact (and Kompakt) track. “Swimmer” layers tones, drones and shimmers for much of its nearly nine minutes, building anticipation for a release that never comes. “Wing Body Wing” is “Swimmer”’s doppelganger: it’s a pointillistic (but not pointless) exercise in putting percussion and rhythm under a microscope. The ten-minute title track is the most varied, moving from Tangerine Dream Krautrock to a standard disco thump and back again. Ringer is a stopgap mini-album; its pleasures are subtle, if not slight, and if not the extroverted and jazzy joys of 2003’s brilliant Rounds.

Standout Tracks: “Ribbons,” “Ringer” STEVE KLINGE