REVIEW: Burial: YOUNG DEATH / NIGHTMARKET (HDB100)

With the sound of crackling and the clunking of metals, Burial is back after an almost three-year hiatus with YOUNG DEATH / NIGHTMARKET.

On Black Friday, fans of the ever enigmatic south London producer would have woken up to the news of Burials surprise release, although this release was in fact a mistake. According to Pitchfork, Sonic Boom Records in Toronto was sent copies of the 12” in a box named “artist/title” and was thought to be a surprise release from Hyperdub. This turned out to not be the case – much to dismay of Hyperdub.

Thankfully on November the 28th Hyperdub decided to officially release YOUNG DEATH / NIGHTMARKET (HDB100) on 12” and MP3 via Burials Bandcamp.

The first track – YOUNG DEATH is packed with the vocal samples and field recordings which are synonymous with Burials sound. Having said this, rhythmically YOUNG DEATH is far subtler than Burials previous releases, a low four to the floor keeps the track moving but is in no way intrusive. Burial’s work has always been dark in nature, while still retaining a strong sense of beauty, Young Death is no exception and has an extremely uplifting feel.

In NIGHTMARKET Burial’s brilliant ear for texture and atmosphere are displayed in amazing form. Something that Burial gets so right in his work is the melodic and harmonic elements in his music, we can see this with the captivating synth filling the soundscape in NIGHTMARKET. Although the track goes through three sections the percussion section is withdrawn thus relying on the synths to keep the track moving forward.

YOUNG DEATH / NIGHTMARKET (HDB100) feels like a move towards a more ambient space for Burial. On this record he has lost some of the rhythmic elements he is known for but the texture, atmosphere and melodicism remain.

Be sure to to download the MP3 via his Bandcamp page sadly the 12” is sold out so a visit to Discogs might be necessary.

Burial – Young Death (2016)

Follow Burial on Bandcamp.

Words by Tobias Young.