While much of dubstep at the time followed a tried and true format, laying slow-motion beats underneath massive bass tones, Burial's productions stood apart by melding this sound with more upbeat rhythms and vocal samples remniscient of the UK garage scene that proceeded the current UK bass sound by a few years, and in some ways, recalling the early days of breakbeat-fueled rave as well.
The incorporation of garage or two step sounds allowed Burial to introduce a more sensual, human element into dubstep's dark atmosphere, but these influences were engineered in such a way as to render the overall effect not so much celebratory as haunting and mournful.
The incorporation of garage or two step sounds allowed Burial to introduce a more sensual, human element into dubstep's dark atmosphere, but these influences were engineered in such a way as to render the overall effect not so much celebratory as haunting and mournful.
Two step rhythms were reduced to their most skeletal, elemental form, sounding almost like primitive wood block percussion, gorgeous melodies were infused with a sense of melancholy and loneliness, and smudged, spine-tingling vocals which might have been uplifting in other contexts sounded wounded and tragic. This was not so much a return to past glories as it was a post-mortem of the euphoria of the 90s rave scene.
Despite the critical success of his early EPs and first, self-titled LP, it wasn't until 2007's Untrue that Burial achieved something approaching legend status, ironic sense at the time the producer still refused to reveal his actual identity. Typical of the critical reaction in music reviewer quarters, Boomkat wrote, "Burial has just gone and produced an album that appeared on first listen to satisfy even our most unreasonable expectations and, on repeat play, surpass them."
With opener "Archangel," it was clear Burial has created an LP that could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with modern soul classics like those created by early Massive Attack. Through 13 amazing tracks, Burial displayed a newfound willingness to use vocals to anchor his tracks, even as he maintained a sense of overwhelming darkness and beautifully downbeat ambience. One of the true classics of modern electronic music, Untrue is an album everyone should own, and one we can only hope Burial can come close to equaling with his future releases.
