I started off thinking I was being closed-minded about this album. That I was letting the cliché factor of all those pitch-shifted vocals get in the way of getting a real feel for the album. But now I'm starting to think that it's what those samples represent that's putting me off this album.
the first album was like some impossible negative shape with all the angles pointing straight in towards a bleak core of almost-nothing. It simultaneously attracted and repelled me and made me go looking for the emotional depth hidden in all the tiny details. In many ways it was quite a difficult listen, but so masterfully constructed that I've pretty much memorised every tiny little click, ping or reverbed crackle on that record. It has vocal samples alright, but they're sparingly used, and in a totally different context- the feeling is of fractured little snippets of memory, reminders of something real that only really serve to highlight the total alienation when they're not there.
But in this album, nearly every single track relies (or seems to think it needs to rely) on a hook- a sad vocal sample coupled with a prominent minor-key melody. To me, that's the antithesis of what the first album was all about, and it almost feels like burial's lost confidence in the space and minimalism of the self-titled. The title track's a particularly bad offender, that looped 'because you lied...' actively gets in the way of my appreciation of the details. It definitely has its moments, and I'm not saying it's a bad album, but to me it just seems to lay itself on the line too much, tries to push emotional buttons instead of making you go looking for them. Whatever, maybe it'll grow on me... it took me quite a few listens to really love the first release after all. And everybody else seems to be enjoying it so that's cool I suppose.
"Now son, don't worry, those were just lies Daddy told to get prescription drugs"
