Review: Thom Yorke/Burial/Four Tet: "Ego" and "Mirror"

Burial/Thom Yorke/Four Tet
"Ego"
"Mirror"
Rating: Grrrr

I generally don't review singles. Not that it is a hard and fast rule, I am just more of an album person (yes, I am freely admitting to being a dinosaur in that regard) and it is hard for me to just take a song out of context of a larger picture and review it. It's just the way I grew up listening to music. In this case, however, it is a collaboration that I cannot pass up, mainly because it is doubtful they will ever get together for a full album.

This collaboration, while surprising, is not without precedent. Burial and Four Tet collaborated on a pair of tracks last year, and both have done remixes for Yorke and Radiohead. What's amazing about this collaboration is how each artist is distinctively there, yet melded perfectly into something unique.

Burial, Four Tet & Thom Yorke - Ego/Mirror 12" by Izvinitie

Side A track "Ego" is by far the more overtly Four Tet of the tracks, featuring a squeltchy, fat house beat and liquidy bassline. The touches of piano and xylophone still can't hide the sure hand of Burial, who provides washes of atmospheric synths and decayed vocal samples. Yorke's voice is hushed and sinister, propelled along by the driving beat. After Yorke fades out it is a perfect moment for Burial and Four Tet to amp things up, with the piano and vocal samples intertwining with each other.

Side AA "Mirror" is distinctly Burial, which has ghostly synth atmospherics edging over a shuffling, two-step beat. Yorke's voice is quite lovely here, haunting and forlorn. Four Tet adds touches of glitchy electronics that buzz in the background, creating a sense of tension underneath.

I can't speak to how these three worked together on these tracks, but from listening it sounds like both Burial and Four Tet came up with the basic idea for each of the tracks, then the other two came in and added their stamp. What is amazing is how instinctual and reverent they are together, none of them overtaking or upstaging the other. Each addition to a track feels effortless and needed. These collaborations are gorgeous and fit well in the catalogs of each artist. I can only hope they decide to put together a full album of music. It would likely be transcendent.

Rating Guide

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top albums of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and peaks one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been trimmed or polished.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.