Mysterious music figure, Burial, unveils a fresh 23-minute EP entitled Comafields and Imaginary Festival.
In the world of electronic music, the release of a new EP by Burial, the enigmatic London-based producer, is always an event worth noting. And his latest offering, "Comafields and Imaginary Festival," is no exception.
The EP, released last night on Bandcamp and streaming services, is the latest in a series of low-key releases from Burial, and it was released via Hyperdub, his longtime home. A vinyl release is scheduled for September 19.
Burial, whose real name is William Bevan, first emerged in the mid-'00s with a string of EPs and albums. His 2007 album, "Untrue," saw him break out of the London underground music scene and into the public consciousness. The album, pieced together using an ancient version of Sony's Sound Forge running on a "rubbish, dying computer" that intermittently leaked smoke, became a testament to his DIY ethic.
In an interview with dubstep producer Blackdown, Burial expressed a preference for the obsolete software, Sound Forge, due to his lack of formal musical training and fear of those with studios. Despite new material in 2025, there is no explicit detailed update that Burial has upgraded or changed his production software significantly. His recent releases continue to build on the sound aesthetic he established over the last decade—fragile garage beats, ambient textures, and samples layered in a cut-and-paste approach that seems to be his signature style.
Each track on the EP stretches over the 10-minute mark, featuring fragile garage-influenced beats and faded trance synths. The latest tracks from Burial show a collage-like approach similar to his earlier releases, but with a more hi-fi sheen to some of the synth sounds.
Burial's music fuses elements of garage, dubstep, and ambient music through a highly distinctive style of cut-and-paste sound design. His music has been nominated for prestigious awards, such as the Mercury Music Prize for "Untrue." Despite his success, Burial remains an elusive figure, rarely giving interviews and preferring to let his music speak for itself.
In summary, Burial's production setup and software preferences have remained notably consistent since the release of "Untrue" in 2007, with some evolution primarily in his musical style rather than major changes in tools. His music continues to evolve stylistically but retains the hallmark fragmented and atmospheric style tied to his original software environment. This suggests Burial prefers maintaining a certain workflow that preserves the unique aesthetic he has developed rather than adopting newer, mainstream production tools and workflows.
- Burial's preference for the obsolete Sound Forge software, despite the advancements in technology, indicates a strong commitment towards maintaining his unique workflow and creative style in the realm of music and entertainment.
- The combination of traditional garage beats, ambient textures, and modernized synth sounds in Burial's latest EP, "Comafields and Imaginary Festival", showcases a marriage of vintage and contemporary technology in the realm of entertainment and music production.
