Number 9 of 2007 — Underworld: Oblivion With Bells

Exhilaration is overrated – if that’s all you experience. Oblivion With Bells does at least one thing right: it improves on the critically underrated A Hundred Days Off without attempting to re-visit the hyperactivity of their first two albums. It achieves this by distilling the core musical behaviour of those early releases and rebuilding them, more subtly, adding musical bolts to join them together.

However, the approach of the opening combo of Crocodile and Beautiful Burnout is entirely predictable. Crocodile begins with Underworld’s traditionally layered bass and bassline, before Karl Hyde’s over-treated and chorused vocals appear. These take on more musical qualities than one usually gets and the structure of the tune is entirely song-like. The chorus and break are particularly lush. Beautiful Burnout leads on from this, going darker, constructing further layers of percussion and bass before Karl’s dour voice comes in to pair with a buzzing pad synth. But, there is lightness here – the synth drops and guitar. I would have liked a couple of extra minutes on this track to fully enjoy the conclusion which employs breakbeat filtered snares to recall previous achievements.

If you’re looking to make sense of the lyrics – don’t even try. They’re even more isolated and spartan than before, but that’s entirely the point. Recollections and half sentences exist to build or complement rhythms and to tweak listeners’ imaginations and open interpretation. It’s no different to the abstract or ambiguous lyrics that traditional songwriters often use. Holding The Moth brags jazzy deep house and splits its time between almost comprehensive phrases and gibberish. It’s not a problem, mind.

To Heal is where things get interesting. The bright shimmering pads that dominate this brief interlude are inspired. I’m thinking old Polaroid’s of Orbital – an aftermath borrowed from the pages of The Girl With The Sun In Her Head. History and memories blurred. More Orbital moments occur immediately later with the percussion in Ring Road. Oh, and that ’..tagged’ pause. Wow.

Glam Bucket is synthy ambience used to separate Boy, Boy, Boy from Ring Road – two tracks that wouldn’t work jammed together. Larry Mullen Jr’s splashy drums support Karl’s dissertation on Boy, Boy, Boy, bringing extra depth and width. The gorgeous simple pad that ends this track is another welcome surprise but when you’ve lived with the break and build of dance music for so long, you expect another phase of development.

After the weird interlude of Cuddle Bunny vs The Celtic Village, Faxed Invitation returns to the sinister rhythms of Beautiful Burnout, but in a minor way. It then floors by forming a gentle marriage between a weedy pad and bouncing bassline. Given all that surrounds it, it’s the most impressive track on the album.

By now listeners will realise that the opening tracks are as exciting as things get. Most of the album turns downwards – the fine closer Best Mamgu Ever consists almost entirely of vocal cut-ups placed over ambient dub. But this strategy gives opportunities to really listen from the inside of each song, to allow each of those peculiar lyrics to spark thoughts and to reflect on everything in the context of Underworld’s career. I don’t want or need another Born Slippy (Nuxx). Nor it seems, do Underworld.

Oblivion With Bells – iTunes UK
Amazon UK