Untrue is destined - for now anyway - to be the landmark album of a 21st-century electronic genre called dubstep. The recording is awash in reverberating bass lines, waves of synth, two-step beats and impressionistic vocals, capturing dubstep's essential mood of cinematic darkness.
Like anything that's groundbreaking, Burial isn't content to settle into expectations. So not everything here is dark. The resilient tempo of "Raver," the CD's final track, suggests the beat of optimism endures beyond the sadness of synth.
This London-based mix artist has remained anonymous to all but his record label, reinforcing the idea that Burial's music is the sound of distance, not darkness.
Untrue is what music might sound like in the underwater peace of a foggy green haze. It's as blissfully experimental as any CD you heard this year.
