Music - Part 25 - Breek

Burst is a lovely little beast.  Dutch duo Salvador Breed and Stijn van Beek has created, quite simply, an almost fully instrumental EP of near beauty.

The intro to opener, Inuit, reminded me of Saturday Night by Whigfield, but, that soon changed.  An unusual percussion made up of ticks and clicks with screeching crystalline synth sounds and basslines.  And it ends with the sound of a crow.  You can’t beat a crow.

Second track is 1974 and a far more relaxed after.  Another nice bassline, but, a lot more relaxing.  You really can find yourself drifting off to this.  Breek clearly love their treated sounds and there are a couple of interesting ‘squidgy’ ones here too.  I’m not sure what the relevance of the years is as the next track is called 1954.  An ebbing tide and bubbling water, which seem to be the feel of the EP, leads into another hypnotic track.  There’s some brilliant sampled vocals, which I can’t really pick out, but the sound is brilliant – rising from high tone to low, in and out, at times almost like a slowed down and speeded up vinyl.  Very original and very compelling.

More bubbling water on Allier, less of a slow track with some great moments where it feels as though crashing drums are about to enter.  It would be so easy to allow that to happen and launch into ‘just another instrumental’, but, the temptation doesn’t succumb, almost like reaching orgasm then stopping.  Another vocal on the dub-step like Rift.  Probably the most upbeat track on the EP.  Sounds swirling from left to right, with a few analogue blips chucked in for good measure leads to the final piece, track 6, Nocturnal.  A bit of a late night dance track, still holding back on the drum sound, making it generally very pleasant and incredibly listenable.

Nodding an occasional wink to Sigur Ros, Burst is a cleverly constructed and unpretentious EP crafted with care and attention that warrants many more listens.  Lovely.


Published on Louder Than War 19/11/12 - http://louderthanwar.com/breek-burst-ep-review/