Antidawn EP

by 
EPJan 06 / 20225 songs, 43m 30s
Ambient
Popular Highly Rated

Burial’s music has always been steeped in atmosphere; the omnipresent sounds of vinyl hiss, rainfall, and cavernous reverb are as much a part of his signature as cut-up breakbeats and mournful vocal melodies. But until *Antidawn*, the UK producer’s work had almost always remained rooted in dance music. This five-song, 44-minute EP—long enough to qualify as his third album, if he wanted it to—definitively breaks with the club. Like 2017’s *Subtemple / Beachfires*, *Antidawn* strips away virtually everything resembling a beat, save for a few brief rhythmic flourishes, so muted they’re barely noticeable beneath the static. What’s left is a purely ambient swirl of brooding synthesizers, crackling white noise, and eerily processed vocal snippets. It can be pretty doleful going: “Nowhere to go,” murmurs a voice in the opening “Strange Neighbourhood.” “I’m in a bad place,” intones another in “Antidawn.” But as is usual for Burial, even the blackest cloud is ringed with blinding light: Church organs suggest a hint of uplift, and many of his chords are major, rather than minor. All five tracks unspool like discrete parts of a single overarching composition; they’re murky enough that it can become easy to feel lost in the fog, casting about for a recognizable landmark. But even at his bleakest, Burial’s world radiates a sense of calm. The overall effect is as hypnotic as it is haunting: Burial distilled to his most desolate essence.

Antidawn reduces Burial’s music to just the vapours. The record explores an interzone between dislocated, patchwork songwriting and eerie, open-world, game space ambience. In the resulting no man's land, lyrics take precedence over song, lonely phrases colour the haze, a stark and fragmented structure makes time slow down. Antidawn seems to tell a story of a wintertime city, and something beckoning you to follow it into the night. The result is both comforting and disturbing, producing a quiet and uncanny glow against the cold. Sometimes, as it enters 'a bad place', it takes your breath away. And time just stops.

385

7.3 / 10

Burial’s longest release in years doubles down on his signature sounds and downcast mood. A collaged chorus of voices holds together a windswept expanse of undulating nothingness.

The lesser-spotted artist builds knife-edge tension with an eerie, five-song collection that evokes suspenseful horror series' Silent Hill'

9 / 10

It’s hard to overemphasise the influence Burial has had on British electronic music. His seminal 2007 album ‘Untrue’ was submerged in

8 / 10

Cheer up, there's some new Burial to listen to! ANTIDAWN is as melancholy as we've come to expect from William Bevan – and excellent with it

8 / 10

Burial continues his long hot streak of evocative and compelling sonic visions with 'Antidawn'. It feels like an entirely new genre of field recording.

90 %

8 / 10