Mysterious music producer Burial unveils 23-minute extended play, Comafields and Imaginary Festival
Burial, the enigmatic electronic musician from London, has released a new two-track EP titled Comafields and Imaginary Festival. The EP, released via his longtime home, Hyperdub, continues Burial's exploration of a sound that combines fragile garage-influenced beats and faded trance synths.
The EP was created using an ancient version of Sony's Sound Forge software on a "rubbish, dying computer" that occasionally leaked smoke. This choice of outdated technology contributes to Burial's signature sound, characterized by crackling textures, pitch-shifted vocal samples, and melancholic melodies that evoke a nostalgic, almost ghostly atmosphere.
Comafields track from the EP builds into layered synth drones that feel almost post-rock. The latest tracks by Burial still employ the collage-like approach, but there's a more hi-fi sheen to some of the synth sounds.
Burial first emerged in the mid-'00s with a series of EPs and albums. His music fuses elements of garage, dubstep, and ambient music through a distinctive style of cut-and-paste sound design. This unique approach has earned him widespread recognition, with his 2007 album Untrue gaining significant public recognition, scoring a nomination for that year's Mercury Music Prize.
Burial is widely regarded as one of the most influential electronic artists of the past few decades. His music avoids the polished and clean production typical of mainstream electronic music, favoring instead a raw and emotive style that captures the grit of urban soundscapes. His use of obsolete software is both a creative limitation and a deliberate artistic statement that enhances the emotive, otherworldly qualities of his tracks.
In terms of production techniques, Burial reportedly has no knowledge of other production programs. He prefers to use the obsolete software, Sound Forge, due to his lack of formal musical training and fear of those with studios.
The EP is available on Bandcamp and streaming services, with a vinyl release scheduled for September 19. Burial's music continues to captivate listeners with its atmospheric, textured soundscapes, reinforcing his status as one of the most influential figures in the UK electronic music scene.
- Burial, still relying on the old version of Sony's Sound Forge software on a faltering computer, leverages outdated technology to create his distinctive music, marked by crackling textures, pitch-shifted vocal samples, and melancholic melodies that evoke a ghostly atmosphere, intertwining elements of garage, dubstep, and ambient music.
- As an electronic artist, Burial has intentionally employed obsolete software in his music production, shunning polished, mainstream electronic music in favor of a raw, emotive style, building tracks with a collage-like approach on an antiquated program, Sound Forge, despite his lack of formal musical training and fear of modern production techniques.
