Burial

Burial, aka William Bevan, is an electronic musician out of London. He’s been around the music scene for quite a while now, however his true identity was only revealed in late 2008, removing some of the anonymity and mystery from his music.

Despite his public identity however, Burial has continued to live mostly in the music underground, collaborating with artists such as Four Tet and sporadically emerging to quietly release a limited-run EP or single (his latest full-length album was in 2007, the critically acclaimed ‘Untrue’). He has managed to maintain an almost-Banksy like underground status, which is complimented in no small part by the style of his music.

Burial’s music is widely considered dubstep, and indeed it is released on the label ‘Hyperdub’. However there’s much more to his sound than this. He plays moody, atmospheric, dark, and surprisingly menacing music, made mostly by himself with the use of the audio editor SoundForge and ample tracking. At the same time as his music is all of these things however, it can feel almost angelic when the sparse high-pitched vocals kick in, and if this is indeed dubstep then it is very accessible dubstep.

His latest release is entitled ‘Street Halo EP’, a record of three tracks built around the song of the same name. Street Halo is an incredibly powerful song, kindling thoughts of desolate- almost post-apocalyptic- apartment buildings and barren landscapes at the same time as the pulsing beat seems very indicative of an urban sprawl.

This is dramatic, visceral, haunting music that won’t leave you after the last beat has faded away. At the same time as Burial has redefined music stardom by choosing anonymity over notoriousness, his music continues to bend and destroy genre barriers, leaving nothing except the pulsing beat and slowly building vocals. It’s music to lose yourself in, and if this is any indicator then 2011 could be a big year for Burial. Whether he wants it to be or not.