Massive Attack’s fifth studio album, arriving seven years after its predecessor, is finally upon us in North America. Named after a German archipelago, Heligoland is a haunting mesh of trip-hop and atmosphere that should have fans of the Bristol duo elated.
Of course, Massive Attack has spent considerable time in the soundtrack department prior to the release of this record. They scored the music for Battle in Seattle and 2008’s Trouble the Water, so it shouldn’t be too surprising that Heligoland carries with it a fairly weighted sense of the cinematic.
Along with featuring a sense of the cinematic, the album also features a fairly big load of guest stars. TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe, Hope Sandoval, Damon Albarn, Elbow’s Guy Garvey, and trip-hop vet Martina Topley-Bird make appearances on vocals. The brilliant Horace Andy is also featured, as usual.
So does Heligoland serve to draw Massive Attack back towards their roots and away from the fuzzed-out melancholy of 100th Window?
Horace Andy’s distinctive voice offers the first clue that things might be off on the right foot for Massive Attack again. He adds layers of personality to the thumping, tense “Girl I Love You.”
But it’s album opener “Pray for Rain” that sets the tone. With Tunde Adebimpe’s vocals and a speaker-threatening, low-bass rumble over sleek jazz cool, this is a track worth many a repeat spin. It’s all slinky, sexy cool and it has a sort of budding convenience, as though Robert Del Naja and Grant Marshall are introducing us to a brand new phase of the magic.
“Splitting the Atom” takes things in an interesting direction, opening with something that almost resembles West Coast G-funk and building on it with a muffled set of Cohen-esque vocals from Andy, Del Naja and Marshall. More of that trademark trip-hop sex infuses every beat.
Article comments
1 - jeannie danna
Jordan,
Good Morning! I tried to listen, but apparently there is something wrong with my media player. I should be able to play the music without signing up, shouldn't I?
I was thinking of signing up and giving a birth year of 1910, just to blow their minds!
:] See ya in the threads...
2 - Jordan Richardson
I have no idea how that works, really. I think you can try looking up the MySpace page for Massive Attack to give it a listen, though. It's worth it. Some real good chill music on this record. I think you'll like it.
:)
3 - jeannie danna
Are you saying I need to chill?
:] ha ha ha, very funny Jordan.
I'll do that. I'll look on MySpace , because I have a friend that I wanted to share this with.
4 - zingzing
i got this album last week and have listened through twice. definitely better than their last, but after listening last night, i popped on blue lines... good god, that is an album.
it's hard not to compare this to portishead's third, which is a remarkable album in so many ways.
i think "girl i love you" and "splitting the atom" are my favorites right now, but i'll give it more listens. in short, i dunno what i think so far... some of it is weightless and undramatic, but it's got a minimalism i really like... i dunno, i dunno.
5 - jeannie danna
OK, Jordan,
I got my media player back! Now to have a listen...I hope you got the fact that I was teasing me there in #3.
All these little passive aggressive comments that are constantly slung around this site can confuse everyone...especially me.
So now, when I write even one little word, my meaning is almost-always misconstrued by a number of these little critics.
:]I don't place you in this category.
6 - jeannie danna
Jordan,
Nope, it says it's in beta and I don't know if I even have that..:)Off to MySpace.
7 - jeannie danna
Jordan,
I used Pandora, and I really do like this!
Very futuristic. "Just want to be a woman...it's time to move on"...yes, this is my kind of music."
:] and I'll say it again, "You are the only one that I see incorporating the music into your text."
8 - Jordan Richardson
some of it is weightless and undramatic
I agree. But they tend to undercut those moments with big slabs of thick bass or atmosphere, so it makes the lack of drama work in a profound way.
9 - zingzing
hrm. i'll agree with that on the better tracks, but there are just some that don't seem to go anywhere. another problem i have is that, while this is different from stuff like mezzanine, there's no reason to think you couldn't switch this one with that one... as in this could easily have come out in 1998. of course, if they had released this in 98 and mezzanine last week, i dunno that i'd have the same problem... but that's impossible to tell.
but i'm going to give it another listen.
10 - Josh Hathaway
I liked Protection and some o' Blue Lines but I just couldn't maintain the enthusiasm for Massive. Nice work, Jordan.