Burial: Untrue

Burial: Untrue Burial
Untrue
(Hyperdub, 2007)

I blame LCD Soundsystem, frankly. I was mad at James Murphy’s effortless ascent to the top scrap of the techno heap for the first half of the decade. So what if this aging hipster could program his 808? He couldn’t bring it to life. Then he did, with Sound of Silver, which has five good songs in a row: A funny, rave-wise David Byrne impression, a typical DFA cowbell jam, a typical Murphy sarcastic rant with an actual hook, a sappy earbud ballad, and one classic, “All My Friends”—seven minutes of Steve Reich-like bliss that could’ve been groomed into a Killers hit. Then Murphy gave up the deep cuts and set his studio on auto-masterpiece before sitting back in for the mediocre “New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down”, a wan piano ballad out of his métier which helped sour techno for me in 2007. But then everyone started exclaiming, “Burial! He’s done it again.” I didn’t look up until the word “Maxinquaye” was being thrown around. Suddenly, I needed to know everything about dubstep—who was this guy that dare challenge the champion on my desert island of trip-hop?

Sure enough, I threw on Untrue and was underwhelmed. I loved the title and the great drum sounds, but what else was there? Any anonymous studio tech could fashion such a pristine clockwork tick from his rhythm makers, but like the case of Mr. Murphy, I didn’t hear them sing. And after a month of pressure, on-off tries, and contrarian dares, I left Untrue—which I ultimately found repetitive and underdeveloped—off my year-end list and filed it.

I can’t sleep without music playing, and I’ve come around to some serious lifetime favorites vis-à-vis my eternal quest for the perfect sheep-counting jams: Luna, Yo La Tengo, Brian Eno, Boards of Canada—all of these made me nod politely at first glint, and then years later I couldn’t imagine living without them. But boredom settles in, and I’m always on the search for another perfect balance of ambient effect and clever melodic friction to add to the pantheon. Still, I had Untrue on my hard drive for months. And in the past year, it unfolded for me—slowly, frustratingly, with near-unanimous support from peers. These were anything but readymade patterns; they’re barely attainable, proximal sounds. “Near Dark”, with its cakewalk jive-shuffle seamlessly thrust into my earbuds, jarring changes and all, is but one testament to the originality Burial can make from (very) gray matter. The layering between low and high, dusty and clear, triangles and gongs, with plenty of faux collector-crackle, is a bubbling idyll of street noises and studio inventions you’ve never heard before, at least not in the same place.

And what of that melodic problem? Repetition, a funny thing, can be harder to get sick of than one might expect, and especially in subtle circumstances like these. It wasn’t like I didn’t catch a standout pop song like “Archangel” the first time out. It was that I found them few and far between—and the few grated on me quick. But I did some research to bolster my appreciation, and it soared. The vocals on Untrue comprise American pop hits, which the British Burial conveys sincere appreciation for as he tinkers them apart: Evaporated Christina Aguilera on “Ghost Hardware”, scorned Beyonce on the rain-spattered title track. “Archangel” is a mutant retake of Ray J’s “One Wish” (yes, Ray J from Kim Kardashian’s sex tape)—in its original form it’s a graceless R&B caricature cut from the same R. Kelly cloth. The lighter-flicker snaps of “Untrue” and the Earth-swallowing bass of “Shell of Light” complement and surround the disembodied voices and chain-rattling poltergeists materializing in creaking attics.

In Burial’s acid-washed prison, banalities turn glacial, whines turn pleading, males become female, hearts birth from ice. It’s understandable why William Bevan wanted such distant, enigmatic beauty to remain anonymous, as he was before the UK press outed his human-faced two-named alter ego. But Untrue hardly needs the help. The musical stamp and cohesion throughout is no gimmick but a fully-realized playground of echo and silence. A rattling document.

Listen: “Archangel” [at youtube.com]

Tags:Burial, Untrue, Hyperdub, dubstep