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— XL RECORDINGS (@XLRECORDINGS) January 1, 2024

Burial’s most recent release, Infirmary/Unknown Summer was in collaboration with Steve Goodman, also known as Kode9. The 2023 EP takes a more ambient approach, featuring spoken word sections, laid-back beats, and pitch-shifted vocals. In comparison, the new work teased by XL Recordings is aggressive, noisy, and raw. The clips feature distinctly different sounds from the ones produced with Kode9. This tonal shift may explain the change in label, a step away from the relaxed 2023 EP. Although the South London producer is currently signed to Hyperdub Records, owned by Kode9, Burial has worked with XL in the past. 

In 2020, Burial teamed up with XL, Kieran Hebden, better known as Four Tet, and Thom Yorke on two tracks titled ‘Her Revolution’ and ‘His Rope’. Since XL Recordings hosts a wide range of electronic producers, it is not out of the question that we may be getting another collaboration from Burial and another XL signed artist. Some of the major producers currently signed to XL Recordings are Overmono, a Welsh duo made up of Ed and Tom Russell, and Peggy Gou, a South Korean DJ and producer whose real name is Kim Min-ji. A potential collaboration between Overmono and Burial may seem more likely than some would think, with the glitchy aesthetic of both teaser videos matching that of the Overmono brand. 

We can speculate all day but all we currently know is that Burial is working on something new with XL Recordings. 

The EP’s accompanying text says: “‘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.”

Maintaining cult status since his debut in 2006, his music existed in bleak eeriness and ambiance, offering a special take on UK club music in a manner that has been, often derisively, classed as “IDM”. The genre grouping is controversial as even the most prominent so-called “IDM” artists have made a mockery of the term, including electronic giant Aphex Twin.

The Hyperdub label has since become synonymous with Burial, both rarely existing outside each other. Released on the Hyperdub label, ANTIDAWN is a refreshing departure from the UK dance-oriented sound we have come to expect. It evades easy listening, even rarely keeping a beat, acting more as a soundscape that could easily function as an immersive video game soundtrack. Glints of Skyrim are heard on the first track, that boasts ten minutes in length, in a soundscape that would easily befit Gregorian Chanting.

Despite the fact that ANTIDAWN is an EP, containing five tracks, it nears the length of a studio album, reaching forty three minutes. Two tracks are over ten minutes, with the shortest track being six. An overwhelmingly peaceful aural experience that stands up to the expectations that Burial has set for himself, this EP flies by as it encapsulates your surroundings and becomes your own soundtrack.

This EP follows his most recent release “Chemz / Dolphins” which itself followed the massively popular collaboration with Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke, Her Revolution / His Rope. The two-tracker hit the perfect middle ground between the two artists styles, with Thom Yorke himself going in the direction of ambient electronic in the last decade or so, with The King of Limbs and his solo effort Anima. One wonders whether Burial provided Thom Yorke with the necessary inspiration to create those works.

The trio have worked together once before on a similar project, another  duplet record which featured two singles Ego and Mirror. The first collaboration took place nearly ten years before, seeing release in 2011. However, neither Ego nor Mirror have yet to be released to streaming services as of 2020.

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Her Revolution and His Rope mirror one another with their static cassette-tape sound, the sitar mimicking and the overarching indie-folk genre wherein they both sit comfortably. The duplet tracks differ in that Her Revolution is more reliant on calm vocals and instrumentation, whereas His Rope features a stronger beat. The two songs are extensions of one another, a style that the trio clearly prefers.

In 2019, Yorke released the latest album ANIMA which was meant with critical praise. In the same year Burial released Tunes 2011-2019 which was a collection of singles from the artist across 8 years that hadn’t been released in that form. Most recently, Four Tet released the LP Sixteen Oceans in the spring of 2020 and has been in promotion since.

Safety concerns surrounding the Covid-19 global pandemic have kept all three artists from touring in 2020 despite their recent releases. Four Tet will not be on tour in 2021, however the artist will be playing Junction 2 in Brentford on June 4th 2021. Burial similarly only has one show in the UK in 2021, playing the Doomsday Festival in Brighton on June 12th.

Thom Yorke, however, does have newly added UK tour dates to his 2021 show-dates. Yorke will also continue onto a semi-international tour with dates in Amsterdam, Belgium and Czech Republic. Notably, the artist was meant to be playing Radio City Music Hall in New York and multiple shows throughout other States in North America, however, these have been currently postponed indeterminate.