Burial: Kindred EP

Reclusive London DJ William Bevan last caused a stir with 2007’s Untrue, a vaporous dubstep/garage crossover smash that got even the staunchest of electro resisters tapping their feet. He returns with Kindred, a brilliant EP that offers a glimpse at Burial’s revolving future; a bold assertion from a DJ famous for staying in the shadows. Key elements of Burial’s past remain - the ascetic 2-step of the title track, for instance - but where Untrue’s songs unfurled quickly and seemed cut from an invisible larger patchwork, the three tracks on Kindred reveal themselves deliberately, entities unto themselves. Bevan flirts with some hefty new ideas; the icy, echoing house synths of “Loner” pair nicely with fleeting samples of white noise and the DJ’s trademark pitched vocals. The 11-minute “Ashtray Wasp” may be Burial’s crowning achievement to date, a muted, bass-heavy, multipart raver that respectfully borrows from Richard D. James but maintains a startling measure of self. (4 out of 5 stars)