Burial - Kindred EP

London electronic artist William Bevan has been making beautifully gloomy instrumental music (best described as a hybrid of dubstep, ambient, and house) under the moniker Burial since 2006, when his eponymous debut album was released and received widespread critical acclaim. A year later, he released Untrue to equal acclaim, all the while keeping such a guardedly low media profile as to be virtually anonymous to fans and critics alike.

In 2008, Burial was nominated for England's prestigious Mercury Music Prize, and with much speculation about his identity among the rabid UK tabloids, Bevan quietly posted a photo of himself on his MySpace page with a blog post thanking his fans and noting that he is "a lowkey person" who "just wants to make some tunes, nothing else."

For the next couple of years, Burial remained rather quiet, releasing a couple of singles, some remixes,  and collaborating on a handful of tracks with other electronic artists (including 2009's "Ego/Mirror" with Four Tet & Thom Yorke). In 2011, he released the Street Halo single, comprised of three tracks that displayed a slightly brighter more danceable sound.

William Bevan aka Burial

Burial's latest release, the Kindred EP, is a return to the darker, drearier sound of Untrue. It consists of three tracks, and indicates that Levan is experimenting with lengthier compositions, as each track is over seven minutes, with two exceeding the eleven minute mark. Similar to Burial and Untrue, Kindred features Burial's impeccable use of vocal samples, simple words or phrases looped and repeated throughout a track, to establish an isolated, often brooding mood. The title track is based around a lush female vocal, consisting mainly of soulful coos and moans.

The pulsating, meticulously arranged beats characteristic of Burial's music (and of dubstep in general, which Levan helped create) pair well with the vocals, propelling each track through murky bass lines and soft, haunting synths. Ambient sounds like the unmistakeable analog static of a needle on well-worn vinyl and the soft splatter of raindrops on concrete provide subtle texture to the grim atmosphere invoked on each composition.

After the midtempo title track, Loner establishes a brisk pace with a driving beat and a frantic synth loop.  Listening to it, one can't help but feel that the stakes have been raised, that time is of the essence. A female vocal sample is once again used, but it is hushed and buried further below the manic instrumentation.

The final track, Ashtray Wasp, begins with a buzzing, two-note pulse that evokes the winged insect of its title. The prominent vocal samples are clear, "I want you" and "I used to belong to you" echo throughout, and the track throbs with an undercurrent of passion and sexual desire. Listening to it, one can't help but conjure images of two hungry lovers enacting their passion for one another in a dark, shadowy room. Like Kindred, Ashtray Wasp is over eleven minutes long, and is divided into two parts. The second segment is much more downtempo, as if the two lovers, upon consummating their passion for one another, are left to contemplate their reckless impulses.

Burial makes music for brooding, plain and simple. On those grey, gloomy days where everything is soaked in rain and enshrouded in fog, this is the music to soundtrack your grim travels to wherever it is you must go.