Burial
Antidawn EP

THE REVIEW

There's something dark, hypnotic, and terribly fascinating about the music of William Emmanuel Bevan, known to most as Burial. Since the release of his debut back in 2006, the English producer has crafted gloomy and muffled soundscapes, accompanied by syncopated rhythms and hints of that dubstep movement, which soon after would burst even into the mainstream.

The surprising thing is that Bevan, after the release of the acclaimed Untrue, reacted to the commotion by progressively disappearing from the scene, reducing new recordings to a minimum (a handful of singles and EPs) and distancing himself from the future garage/2-step of the debut.

Those who have listened to his latest efforts (included in the collection Tunes 2011-2019) will have noticed a process of exhaustion or subtraction in his compositions, which have become increasingly rarefied, fragmented, and close to a dark ambient that finds its endpoint in this Antidawn EP. Or perhaps, I would say, a point of no return.

Although there are allusions to rhythms and structures, one wonders what could follow a work like this: the distant lights of dawn or the darkness, the infinite void? It's difficult to provide an answer, just as it is difficult to judge such a work, where voices, ethereal melodies, vinyl crackles, and field recordings seem to converse for a moment only to then get lost in the cosmic void. "Like tears in the rain".

It is pointless to mention the tracks (five), their considerable length, or the fact that Antidawn EP, engaging us for about forty minutes, could almost be considered a long play. Superfluous details when faced with the inexplicable, the enigma of the universe, a music that is not music and that seems to blend with reality, with our breaths, whispers, and cries.

With the sadness of the end. Awaiting a new beginning.