29 July 2010

There never was an artist so aptly named. Burial's sound is bare-bones bleak, gritty urban and yet even sad and childlike at times, and is quite possibly the work of a true genius. The loose pigeon-holing of this release as 'dubstep' doesn't really do it justice... it defies classification in that way that only the best music can. Words: Will Jobbins

When listening to Untrue, his second studio album, one can almost feel the paint peeling from the walls of the staircase of a derelict inner city tower block, hear the rain falling on burnt-out car bonnets, and smell the dog shit underfoot. Even in the first full-length track, Archangel, the lyrics are that of a soulful R&B track, but underneath those lyrics and indeed throughout the whole album, orchestral synths in minor keys flicker in and out, combined with rattling, rimshot triplets and off-beat kicks. Rave sirens fade in but ghostly and almost ethereal, not in the slightest euphoric, while startlingly off-key sub-bass devices throb, barely tangible, at the kind of low frequencies that can melt pavement. Often, the mood is created without any dubstep-style shuffling beat, with only distorted church organs and voices sampled and twisted to the point of non-recognition.

Untrue is the gaunt, hooded figure that stands in the pouring rain with his nose pressed against the windows of the club, watching his old friends having a good time, but can't get in. This album isn't so much dark as deeply melancholy, like a window into a spirit plane where the ghosts of UK garage, acid house and '90s rave culture drift meaninglessly and without a future.

This won't be an ideal listen for you if you're susceptible to the blues, and definitely isn't suitable nutritionally for those on a special K diet, but it is an absolutely incredible piece of mood manipulation and - well, simply, just amazing music. Hyperdub Records, on general release.
Formats: CD, vinyl, digital download. Burial is able, through his sound, to pierce you and pluck your emotional strings like a harpist plucking a harp with a chainsaw. I can't get enough of Untrue, even two years later. If you haven't yet heard it, I suggest you do. This, judging by the critical acclaim it received upon release, is destined to be a real classic, and deservedly so.