Burial, referencing nature even by name, can’t seem to take design literally. First he gave us his self-titled debut, a homegrown left-field entry into 2006 that sedated a craving for the forgotten dubstep that we didn’t know we had. It was off handed and flawed, but the mark was left, a loose, tribal force of computers vs. jungle that couldn’t sit still. In a year and a half, the dubstep producer broadened the rusty metropolis of
Burial, softening the edges into the brooding atmosphere of
Untrue, an album that finds this self-proclaimed “rubbish super-hero” mingling into the obscurity of the underground club culture that doesn’t dwell on names or faces, but emotions and odds. And in finding the entangled roots that bound
Burial to the bustling city night life, Burial has livened
Untrue not only into a more familiar, uplifting plateau, but one that breathes organic life into his combated, technological ends.
In this aspect, Burial treats
Untrue like his own underground playground, shifting his focus without forgetting his goal. Treated as a lowly pickpocket, Burial takes loose odds and ends from others to build his collection of knick-knacks and garage noises, where bullet casings hitting concrete from
Metal Gear Solid and Vin Diesel’s keys make cameo appearances in samples. They’re just some of many small odes to detail that crowd the dusty corners of
Untrue without toppling it over. The product of the centerpiece “Archangel” feels satisfying and absurd, fishing depth out of its woodblock percussion and grimy synths that work in Burial’s gloomy, longing lyricism (“Holding you– good at being alone/loving you– good at being alone/kissing you– tell me I belong/it's not why I trust you”). That acknowledgement to the tragic ephemeral nature of the shared kinetic spaces within the clubs that come to inform
Untrue drives the crinkling tones to “Near Dark” and the drama drenched back-and-forth of feminine vocals in the drifting wisps of “Homeless.” The crass piano to “In McDonalds” coupled with the track's title says more about its foggy, fluorescent lit locale than its hazy dialogue seems capable of.
