Burial's Self-Titled Album Turns 20

**Burial released Burial 20 years ago today, and the ripple of the album’s influence has yet to subside.**

Why is Burial celebrated across the globe? It’s because he introduced a sound palette that wasn’t explored in electronic music at the time of his initial rise. He gave the world’s broody recluses a space to sink into their emotions fully and deeply. Chances are, if you hear the mixture of gloomy samples, fractured breakbeats, and vinyl crackle, it’s either a Burial track or an artist undoubtedly influenced by him.

His self-titled 2006 debut album received wide praise from the media and was even hailed by Resident Advisor as one of the best albums of the decade. It helped define the dark garage sound preceding his highly acclaimed second album, Untrue. Burial’s self-titled album opened the door not only to his career, but also to reshaping artists’ perception of musical possibilities. It’s easily one of the first notable dubstep full-length albums of its era, and its impact is enduring.

**Trek the dystopian trail of Burial’s early beginnings as we press play on Burial.**

“Untitled” opens the album as mysteriously as its undecided name. A short, eerie, one-sided conversation ensues until silent static takes over, leading you to “Distant Lights.” This is where we begin to tap into the atmospheric breakbeat segments for which Burial is well known. The Spaceape scored the only feature on “Spaceape,” adding his goosebump-inducing words with an unsettling, irregular beat.

Emotions come to the surface on “Wounder.” You can’t help but feel like you’re reaching for something in the distance, but your steps keep you in place. “Night Bus” is the essence of a rainy, late-night bus ride. Picture listening to this one while staring out the raindrop-covered window as the street lights pass by. Then, “Southern Comfort” picks up the rhythm, giving listeners a break from complete despair.

“U Hurt Me” comes in exactly how you might imagine, moving slow like a wounded soul with a heavy heart. Piggybacking off the sad emotions, “Gutted” mirrors the previous track, but with a more longing sorrow, placing several hollow spaces in between beats to give your mind room to wander. Then, “Forgive” feels softer around the edges, the way one feels after a huge burden has been lifted off their shoulders.

Instability settles in during “Broken Home.” Disorienting sounds ring out sporadically, hindering your brain from finding ease. “Prayer” comes in calm and collected, providing a more meditative space, the perfect reset after the song that came before.

The final stretch showcases more breakbeats on “Pirates.” This tune has waves of playful vocal stims that meet up with handfuls of unique samples. To end our journey, “Untitled2” enters in a similar way to the intro, as if you pressed play on an old cassette tape and are listening to someone’s own eerie personal audio diary.

Burial resonates with so many because he found a way to build a world that normalizes feeling moody. Life has low-frequency moments that need to be felt, too, and that’s okay.

This album opened the door to new possibilities; if you name an artist in electronic music, they more than likely went through a Burial phase. His unquantized percussion, the eerie yet beautiful soundscapes, and the space he allowed in his music created a never-ending ripple in the scene that we quite frankly wouldn’t want to live without. Thank you, Burial.