Shackleton
3 Eps

"3Eps" by Shackleton: the album I wanted to hear from Massive Attack.

A murky and dark album, played in a muffled manner, merging the coolest electronics with the latest dub reverberations.

A pulsing and alive album, never raucous but rather introspective, crafted by elaborating different pieces in a careful and attentive way, as if they were "generated by the sonic void" and not vice versa (almost never, in fact, do you hear full drums, guitars, or other instruments playing). Everything enters progressively and imperceptibly: a distant bell, a distorted feedback, or a far-off voice appear like ghosts on tiptoe.

An album not sung, filled with subtle references to house, sacred music, bhangra, techno, electronic-ambient, and other allusions that are always latent and whispered. Always on the verge of exploding but never fully emerging from the compact and granitic sound wall that Shack (the sole surviving member of the operation) has put together in this "3 Eps" album, just released by the German label Perlon.

9 fundamentally dark songs but terribly stylish, highly enjoyable both at low volume, as a sound backdrop for other activities, and as a dance groove, played loudly, for decidedly more animated evenings.

An album that extends musical boundaries towards the same sonic territories of the "old" Massive Attack who, with the new Heliogoland just released, have deeply disappointed me.

Welcome to Shackleton: the Massive Attack of 2010!