A challenge throbs deep in the flesh of this EP from UK dubstep producer Burial: to listen without feeling heart-sore. And when you fail, trace your fall. You’ll find what’s responsible are the trademark sounds Burial – real name William Bevan –deployed on previous releases to the same devastating emotional effect.
Bass lines as purposeful as a charge from a defibrillator; a disquieting atmosphere of impermanence and fragility evoked by the hisses, cracks and pops of faux-vinyl static; soulful female vocal samples cut-up and manipulated to radiate a profoundly affecting sense of sorrow and displacement. While Bevan is shuffling familiar elements on Kindred he’s also perfecting his distinct and dark art of dubstep, lifted here to its giddiest, and most grievous, heights yet.
[rating:4.5]
