Easy listening? Not quite. But this vaguely unsettling yet immersively flowing ambient outing from enigmatic British producer Burial (aka William Bevan) is the perfect soundtrack to a bitterly cold, glisteningly sunny winter morning. Or at least, that’s when I listened to it. In truth, I suspect the contemplative, cinematic and compelling Antidawn will go down just as well with a moody, rain-soaked afternoon, a warmly soothing sunset or even the quiet darkness of the late night. So maybe it is easy listening after all. Eye of the beholder and all.
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “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.”
