About

Since Burial introduced us to the vast wintery expanse of his 2022 EP, Antidawn, his soundscapes have gradually thawed. On last year's Infirmary / Unknown Summer and Dreamfear​ / ​Boy Sent From Above, percussive movements had started to replace the slow, ambient undulations, bringing his music closer to its original form. If the reintroduction of drums was rain in the desert for loyalists to his more linear takes on dance music, Phoneglow / Eyes Go Blank, his new split EP with old friend and Hyperdub head Kode9, is an oasis. "Phoneglow"'s raw ingredients show what we've come to expect of Burial's recent works: yearning melancholy by way of far away-sounding professions of love, woven into that signature shimmery, crackling ambience. The additional flourishes are what make "Phoneglow" shine. The song's hook takes a sample from Shanice's 1999 R&B hit, "When I Close My Eyes" (which also forms the basis of one of the late '90s greatest UK garage cuts), and pitches it up until it fits perfectly over those 2-step drums. "There's something 'bout the way you love me" repeats, before a bouncy carousel of ravey, luminous pads gives way to a deluge of acid bass.

Kode9's contribution, "Eyes Go Blank," is less concerned with moving the listener emotionally and more committed to making them move physically. On a technical level, it's a marvel. You can tell greater care has been put into the mix than "Phoneglow." The arrangement is unbridled carnage, a labyrinth of sharp turns with razor-sharp breakbeats at the wheel. Short recurring motifs, like an arpeggiated xylophone or rising siren sounds, skitter in from all angles, only to be completely usurped by a distorted bassline so harsh and imposing that the drums sound as though they're hyperventilating while trying to escape its wrath. By hearkening back to '93 jungle and turn of the millennium UK garage, this split EP upholds both producers' usual melancholic versus muscular interplay when it comes to sound design—all while offering up a masterful ode to the past with arrangements from the future. — via Resident Advisor

↓
Label: Hyperdub
Format: Vinyl, 12", 45 RPM
Released: 2025
Genre: Electronic
Style: UK Garage, Footwork, Drum n Bass

File under: Leftfield
⦿