Album Review: Burial - Truant/Rough Sleeper

Burial
Truant/Rough Sleeper
Rating: Grrrr

Ever since his landmark album Untrue, William Bevan, a.k.a. Burial, has blazed his own trail, refusing to do anything by the numbers. Instead of following up with another full length album, Bevan has been slowly releasing EPs and singles, and collaborating with artists like Four Tet and Thom Yorke, taking his signature sound and subtly tweaking it. There are never any huge leaps into differing genres, his music is always distinctly Burial-sounding, but there is a greater focus on expanding and fleshing out his sound. On last year's Kindred EP, he basically created a suite of music from three tracks, two of which were well over 10 minutes in length, and moved effortlessly through many emotional highs and lows. Returning only 10 months later with the Truant/Rough Sleeper single, Bevan again plays with length, each of the tracks going over the 10 minute mark. These tracks, however, are fiercely experimental never staying long in one mood, not afraid to be ugly or harsh or off-putting.



Truant starts off as the most "Burial" sounding track. A shuffling beat, distant vocal samples, chimes, and lonely synth washes are unmistakably Bevan. About two minutes in, the vocal sample gets clearer, hauntingly crying out "I fell in love with you," while the beat slightly changes and harsh blasts of white noise interrupt the beauty. A full stop almost changes the track entirely, a ominous bassline creeps up while interesting clicks and background noises fight for dominance. Throughout the runtime, the track is unafraid to fold in on itself, strike in a different direction, then pull back into a former theme or motif. It's Bevan keeping the listener active in the process of listening. Not content to be mere wallpaper, you are constantly forced to reexamine the track and what it means. By the final two minutes of "Truant" the track is barely recognizable from the beginning, moving defiantly towards harshness, the clattering percussion, rumbling synths, and deep jazz bass line a far cry from the lonely ambiance of the first half. The track ends abruptly, segueing into the 14 minute "Rough Sleeper."



Again, starting on a low key note, "Rough Sleeper" rides along a lonely organ melody, the delicate two step beat prodding it along. Again, Bevan uses more interesting background noises: disjointed sax samples, brutally chopped up vocals, a penchant for dropping the track out entirely. And again, morphs and wraps the track around on itself. While this disjointedness can be antagonistic at times, there always is a method to Bevan's madness. The middle portion of the track is perhaps some of the most breathtaking music he has ever produced. The beat becomes more insistent, vocal samples marry perfect to the mix of subtle electronics and rising chimes, with all the other disparate elements from before coming together. The back portion of the track again changes course, the beats dropping out momentarily before a new synth melody arises and a choppier two step beat emerges through the fog. Just as you are lulled into the track the programming becomes more frenzied, a white noise threatening to overwhelm before the track cuts out abruptly.

Truant/Rough Sleeper has almost too much going on throughout its 25 minutes, but somehow Bevan keeps everything in place. It's admirable that he chose not to remake Untrue over and over again, putting out music when he wants and as he wants. At this point, I am not concerned that he has yet to put a full length out. His ability to convey so much with his longer form singles just adds more depth to his catalog, and if he continues in this vein, it will be enough for me.

Rating Scale:

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 releases of the year.

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

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

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.