CURTAINS CLOSED, FACE STILL ATTACHED

Burial - Archangel

There are no words, really, that can describe how much love I have for Burial, how his music has been so emotive and powerful. But then, for me, that is the beauty of his music, the fact there there is no real verse, chorus, bridge… just the same few sentences, questions, the same words, over and over, but you can’t quite make it out. Could it be alone? Couldn’t be alone. Let it be alone? I could listen to this another hundred times and still not be sure. But that is exactly what makes this tune so powerful: it can take on any meaning you wish. You can be walking home from a night (and usually an early morning) out, hear this and be buzzing with elation, partly due to the copious amount of pharmaceuticals, partly due to the intensity of the song.  You could be sitting in a cafe, with your headphones on, not giving a second thought to the rest of the world and just listen to this song, over and over. Because for that brief moment in your life, nothing else matters. I find it extremely humbling that someone I have never met, have never known, can somehow have the ability to describe exactly how you’re feeling at that precise moment in time. But that emotion can change every single time you hear this track. Every time you listen to the lyrics and focus on what Burial is trying to tell you, it changes. The ambiguity is the beauty of this track.

The one resounding lyric that can be made out is “tell me I belong…” which is a feeling that you can relate to at many points in your life. Whether its at school, within the family unit, with your partner or someone you love… just to have that acceptance. For me, I can relate it to many aspects of my life, but mainly to one of my friends. This song made me realise that whether I am their friend, best friend, lover, soulmate, I just needed to be there. I just needed to belong in their eyes, in some context, in their life. Despite our history and things that had happened in the past, I could not let go. Other lyrics have jumped out at me at other times of hearing this song; once the only lyrics I could hear sounded like “to think that i trusted you”… when actually it’s “he better trust you.” Just shows the ambiguity of the song, and how your situation impacts upon your understanding. Music like this has become almost therapeutic, to swim into the heart of the song and pick out the parts that are relevant and poignant to you at any given time.

Many people (of which i used to be one) think of Dubstep and they think of Trolley Snatcha ‘Where’s my Money?’, heavy bass, pikeys, comments like “that songs dirtier than your mum’s underwear”….. and yes, music like that may well have a time and a place far away from my ears. Sure, at a rave when you’re a bit Charlie Sheened, that’s a different matter, but there’s only so much a jaw can take. There’s so many sub genres of Dubstep, like this, that deserve more recognition, for being able to blow you away without blowing your face off.  I recommend that whatever your personal opinion of dubstep, you just close your door, close the curtains, close your eyes and have this on repeat. Whoever you are, this song has the ability to make you return to a vulnerable moment in your life, and give it a new definition, because everyone has at one point in their life had something they can’t find the words to express.

Jenny Barlow

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