Thursday 23 May 2013

Burial

With Burial's new 12", 'Truant/Rough Sleeper', having been released a couple of weeks ago, he's been back on my radar in a big way. There are only two long tracks on it, equalling about 25 minutes of music, but there are several distinguishable sections to each. In terms of varying from his earlier stuff, there is a definite progression, though I wouldn't worry if you're a huge fan of Burial because it's still very much something that could only have come from him. He still uses the same minimal, garage beats, gloomy synth drones, heart-breaking vocal samples and signature crackling background ambience. However, there are definitely moments in 'Truant/Rough Sleeper' where the music's general tone seems to shift away from the murky gloom that has become so associated with Burial and towards something that could perhaps be described as a bit more hopeful. Take 4:13 of 'Rough Sleeper', where we can almost even detect a move into (God forbid) a major key. Another favourite moment of mine is from 6:25 onwards in 'Truant', where we suddenly get something reminiscent of the progressive dance music of the 90's (think 'Out Of Space' by the Prodigy), though still very obviously Burial-ised. 
To conclude, absolutely make sure you listen to these tracks if you haven't already, they are absolutely brilliant. I've also posted an older track, 'NYC', my love for him having been rekindled lately to a huge extent. I just wish he was still anonymous!