4 Hero is the duo of Dego MacFarlane and Marc Mac, two debuted on London's hip-hop scene in the mid 1980s, but left their mark when they started pioneering new forms of drum'n'bass since 1990. Mr Kirk's Nightmare and Journey From The Light (1993) were the gloomy classics that signaled a change of mood within the rave scene, although initially 4 Hero was mainly known for harmless dancefloor hits such as Risin' Sun, Combat Dance and The Scorcher. They were all released on their own Reinforced label, soon to become the headquarters of drum'n'bass.

In Rough Territory (Reinforced, 1991) collects and remixes some of the early singles and adds a few more tracks.

Mac Mark also launched the Manix project with singles like Oblivion and Hardcore Junglism, while MacFarlane launched the Tek 9 alter ego with sophisticated singles like A London Sumtin and Just A Dream.

With Parallel Universe (Reinforced, 1994 - Selector, 1996), the duo abandoned the genre they had helped pioneer and embraced a form of "armchair jungle" that offered a groundbreaking marriage of fusion-jazz and ambient music, bordering on Weather Report and Sun Ra rather than on their friend Goldie. Lush strings and free-form electronics defuse the breakbeats of Universal Love, Terraforming and Wrinkles In Time.

Another sci-fi concept album, this time credited to Jacob's Optical Stairway (R&S, 1996), perfected the idea, by investing heavily in synthesized strings and adding the vocals of a disco diva (Samantha Powell). From a production viewpoint, The Chase The Escape is the standout track.

In the meantime, Mark Mac debuted the straightahead hardcore techno of Nu Era. After the singles Stars and Breaking in Space, the album Beyond Gravity (Reflective, 1996) showcased the existential grooves of Mono Concentrate and Mirror Imagesd.

MacFarlane, on the other hand, turned his Tek 9 side-project into a laboratory of innovations: It's Not What You Think It Is (SSR, 1996) further refines his approach to jazz fusion (particularly with Is It On?), but ultimately lands him into acid-jazz and trip-hop territories, whereas Simply (SSR, 1999), featuring a number of vocalists, returns him to sample-free, vocal hip hop, soul melodies and bass-heavy funky rhythms.

The new 4 Hero EP, Earth Pioneers (Talkin' Loud, 1997), and single, Hero/Lullaby, introduced live instrumentation. Despite the frantic drum-machine, Planetaria is virtually a classical ourverture, orchestrated for violins, standup bass, piano and clarinet. The latter two bestow on the instrumental piece a jazz flavor. The classical strings and the standup bass also accompany the hit Loveless, dominated by Ursula Rucker's spoken-word performance. A discrete use of samples, loops and distortions characterizes the "rhythm and noise" of Dauntless and Hal's Children.

The two-disc album Two Pages (Talkin' Loud, 1998) furthers the investigations of Parallel Universe (i.e., continues the experiments with live instrumentation, thanks to two string quartets and a three-piece horn section) and Jacob's Optical Stairway. Mellow, kitschy orchestral arrangements highlight Star Chasers, a natural progression from Universal Love and Loveless, halfway between Curtis Mayfield and disco divas, perhaps reminiscent of the styles that turned Roni Size and LTJ Bukem into millionaires. Golden Age Of Life is basically a soul-jazz ballad decontextualized through an arrangement of harp, choir, piano. Escape That is relaxing, atmospheric lounge music. Wishful Thinking is shameless Bacharach pop. Third Stream features African percussion and dancing violins, but the main theme is "beaten" (more than played) by the piano as a mechanical pattern, and is rounded up by a fantastic clarinet solo.
Spirits In Transit returns to the "classical" arrangement of Planetaria, but with a festive, fanfare-like attitude (not too distant from Philip Glass's minimalist scores). All the tracks of the first disc are heavily imbued with jazz. So it is appropriate that the last words are carried by the romantic saxophone that highlights Normal Changing World. This first disc is as baroque as a psychedelic album in 1967.
The second, all-instrumental and more experimental disc challenges the arduous structures of Spring Heel Jack and Squarepusher with the eight-minute percussive pastiche We Who Are Not As Others. The other tracks sound a little amateurish and it may not be a coincidence that the best is Pegasus 51, another melodic offering. As avantgarde composers, the duo is definitely not up to the task, but, at least in their intentions, this is the Ummagumma of drum'n'bass.

Two Pages Reinterpretation (Talkin' Loud, 1999) is the remix album.

Mark Mac and Dego McFarlane cannot repeat the magic of Two Pages on Creative Patterns (Talking Loud, 2001). Their elegant, sensual and baroque drum & bass fails to capture the same metaphysical essence of pieces like Golden Age Of Life. The disc is equally divided between noir, expressionistic atmospheres set to warm and slippery techno beats (Golden Solitude, 2-BS-74638, Ways Of Thought) and ballads delivered by an assortment of mainly female vocalists (including Jill Scott and Ursula Rucker). The instrumental tracks are club-friendly and the ballads (Hold It Down, Another Day, Time, Unique) are radio-friendly, the latter being the most interesting from the viewpoint of the arrangements. Bottom line: the best track is probably Les Fleur, an old Minnie Ripperton hit. Never a good sign when the best song is a cover.

Marc Mac formed the Visioneers, a project with Brad Somatik and 4 Hero's drummer Luke Parkhouse, with the mission to concoct some kind of fusion of hip-hop and jazz, not exactly the most original of concepts. How About a Game of Chess (2005) and Dirty Old Hip Hop (2006) were nonetheless elegant excursions into both genres.

4 Hero's Play With The Changes (2007) stands as a vast fresco of their musical roots and their musical achievements. However, it rarely ventures beyond the mere exhibition of class (the romantic Bed Of Roses).