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Initially I planned to review another album but this rainy inspired me to write about this album instead.
Burial, of his real name William Emmanuel Bevan, is an electronic producer from England. "Untrue" released in 2007 would be his sophomore album, his debut being his self titled which displays a lot of moody and introspective sounds to dubstep. Burial would be the pioneer of the future garage genre, which inspired many known artists like Jamie xx, James Blake or Four Tet.
Untrue is not a lot different to his debut, but would rapidly grow into one of the most praised electronic albums of the 2000s. A lot of the material in this project features off-kilter drums, ambient synths and vocal samples he would pitch to make them sound androgynous.
He would use an already then obsolete music program to produce his music.
"Archangel" is Burial's most popular track. With those off-kilter drums that hit like rain on ground, heavenly synths and vocal samples from R'n'B singer Ray J, Burial lays down the work for a melancholic mood. While those vocals are pitched up and down, they're audible as you can hear "Couldn't be alone" repeated through. Little fun fact : Burial produced this track in around 20 minutes. The feeling of longing expressed in the lyrics hit harder when you learn Burial wrote it shortly after his dog past away.
"Near dark" follows that mood with rhythmic percs. I love how the vocals alternate between spoken word, a sort of choral hanging in the background and this call and back sample in the chorus. Also that gun reloading and bullet shell dropping sampled from Metal Gear Solid is a pretty nice touch.
Another fan favorite "Ghost Hardware" features those classic Burial drums, yet again heavenly and ghostly synths, sort of menacing bass and female voices. If you dislike repetitiveness in songs, this album is most probably not for you but from what I interpret each of these songs build a mood and atmosphere that is unique in the tracklist yet flows seamlessly into eachother.
A welcome change from the usual future garage sound of "Untrue" is found in the very atmospheric and ambient "Endorphin". I'm in awe at how those vocals kinda call back to more naive times, kinda like of a distant memory of my childhood. The sudden switch in atmosphere near the end is one of the most mesmerizing moments in the album.
"Etched Headplate" is a fine track by Burial standards, it's one of the more dubstep oriented tracks with its sub-bass. My major gripe with this song is the vocal sample, which is taken from an amateur song cover Burial found on YouTube. Lots of the EQ work done to those vocals doesn't really scratch an itch for me personally, which I find a tad bit annoying. I think it would've been better to simply pitch those vocals rather than EQing them like he did because they don't compliment the track a lot. But I do like the way the bass is more dominant in this track.
One of the shortest cuts "In McDonald's" is one of the more emotional potent tracks on the album despite its length. I love how gentle those strings are. And man those lyrics are some of the most evocative ; "Because once upon a time it was you that I adored, you look different". One of my favorites on the album.
The title track is nothing short of a cinematic masterpiece. By now it's not that much different to anything from what came before it but there's just something special about this song. I don't know if it's the pitched down Beyoncé sample, the repeated lyrics of "To the way I feel inside, and it's all because you lied" or the bridge but it's my favorite track on the LP. It's kind of reliving a moment that used to hurt you but more distantly.
"Shell of light" is one of the more brighter cuts on the album, which is needed after the nostalgic emotional bomb that was the title track. In fact the second half of this album is a lot more brightful than the pretty bleak and melancholic first half. Lots of impressive sound effects are displayed here, like the sort of glitches that invite themselves in the first half or the rain sounds that come at the mid point of the song. It's also a pretty nice touch the outro to this song is pretty similar to the title track, with the same synth melody and vocal sample.
"Dog Shelter" is one of the more ambient oriented tracks here with a ghostly synth melody. The different sound effects that come on and off are pretty great but I don't have a whole lot to say about it.
"Homeless" isn't very different structurally to most of the future garage/dubstep tracks on the album but has a special feel to it, being a lot more hopeful than melancholic than most of the tracks here, which is pretty fitting like as I said prior the second half is not as sentimental as the first half. Despite being one of the least known track on the album, it's still one of my favorite as the skies begin to clear up here.
The closer "Raver" is a surprising techno track, with those off-putting sort of xylophone notes repeated throughout the song. The most danceable song here for sure. It's an odd ball in the tracklist I'll give it that but I think it's pretty fitting to end this album in a positive note after all the moody energy that came prior to it.
Overall "Untrue" feels more like a screenshot of a time where a romantic tragedy happened or a personal event that emotionally affected you that you could look at with more mature eyes. It's an uniquely beautiful masterpiece where Burial is able to pull many different vocal samples and twist them into his own vision to successfully build a pulling and immersive mood. Best to listen to on a rainy day, I vividly recommend this album as it's one of my favorite electronic albums ever.
I'm feeling a 9.4/10 on this classic.
Fav tracks : Archangel, Near Dark, Ghost Hardware, Endorphin, In McDonald's, Untrue, Shell of Light, Homeless, Raver
Least favorite track : Etched Headplate
Genre : Future Garage, Dubstep, Ambient
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