Burial: 'Truant'/'Rough Sleeper'

Burial is paradoxical in several ways.  He became one of Dubstep’s biggest names but, whilst distilling that idiom’s dark, urban dread, his music follows its basic blueprint only tangentially and extends much further and subtly in terms of emotional vision.  Compiling an instantly recognisable signature sound from a notably small library of recycled audio elements, Burial’s novelty should have paled long since.  Instead, each new release has successfully found new possibilities within that limited palette, retaining the expressive impact of his early releases.

William Bevan, aka Burial

When William Bevan lost his anonymity in 2008, his carefully constructed mystique should have evaporated but it still feels more relevant to regard Burial as a shadowy entity haunting the contemporary urban and musical scene than to investigate his individual reality.  After two massively acclaimed albums, it might be assumed a third, even of lesser quality, would have quickly sold itself.  Instead, over five years, Burial has drip-fed us with limited, impeccably crafted and well judged tracks in twos and threes, as solo and collaborative projects.

‘Truant’ and ‘Rough Sleeper’ are the latest such artefacts.  As usual, I approached with trepidation, half-expecting the well to have run dry or finally to see through the hype.  Instead, I’ve fallen in love with Burial’s music once again.

Unsurprisingly, the usual formal elements are all present and correct.  They include:

• Shuffling, skipping beats, - often two-step derived.  They remain noticeably unquantized and periodically appear to hesitate or stumble.

• Profound, sculpted bass, clearly referring to Dubstep but used to create deeply immersive environments rather than being fetishized or allowed to browbeat the listener.

• Simple, often beautiful and achingly melancholic. melody lines, usually constructed from a few repeated notes or washes of synthesized tone.

• Pitch-shifted vocal samples that should sound ludicrous and cartoonish but, instead, convey considerable soulfulness.

• Multiple and varied layers of crackle, hiss, aural murk and granular texture that evoke audio static, persistent rainfall or else just general entropy.

• A plethora of puncta, and small details, including clicks, pops, metallic clinks and samples of intriguing dialogue.

Such is the self-referential nature of all this by now that any new elements can resemble massive breakthroughs rather than the steady evolution they actually represent, as is the case with the solemn organ and saxophone sounds that occur during ‘Rough Sleeper’.  Actually, where the real development is to be found is in Bevan’s manipulation of overall form.  Last Year’s ‘Kindred’ EP included the astounding ‘Ashtray Wasp’ which changed direction repeatedly over nearly 12 minutes, becoming almost symphonic in its references to past Trance euphoria.  The new tracks take this model further. Both appear to contain passages from several different pieces over their 11 – 14 minute durations with distinct pauses for breath between each transformation.

           


Clues to Burial’s intentions may come from the beautiful accompanying video, in which the nocturnal cityscape of Tokyo unfolds from the cab of an elevated train.  The idea of a meditative urban journey, - so often related to his music, is overtly depicted here.  As the train traverses different quarters, periodically stopping at stations, each musical hiatus suggests nothing so much as those brief halts in its seemingly perpetual transit, or even just the new view revealed each time a traveller closes and reopens their eyes.  The connection between electronic music and travel, or indeed immersion in urban environments is hardly new but few have made it this elegantly or reflectively.

I now realise I can probably take as much as this as Burial cares to serve up.  It may not be on his agenda, (and perhaps I’m old fashioned), but I look forward to the day when one of these extended suites reaches album length…