George Burman, an experimental artist based in Suffolk, takes influence from and blends: ambient, folk, and fusion genres crafting smooth atmospheres and intricate melodies. Originally a drummer, he started releasing music in 2020 he released a new EP ‘The Tower’ in December.
The concept of ‘The Tower’ follows a story of an explorer travelling through the desert and rediscovering the Tower of Babel. The information held within leads to spiralling madness as people flock to the tower seeking enlightenment. blending elements of world music, ambient, rock, afro beat and folk to critique modern religion.
Let’s take a listen…..
‘Lone Camp’ – a short atmospheric introduction to George’s experimental sounds with a hint of ticking. It’s an appealing start filled with optimism.
‘Desert Trek’ – an upbeat track with afro beat and world music vibes and being over six minutes long is plenty of time to listen to all the layers and instrumental sounds coming through. Usually I don’t like when you feel an artist has shoved everything into a track including the kitchen sink – however George has filled the space with complementary notes from the saxophone, trumpet, strings and percussive beats in a way where it all gels smoothly into a track you want on repeat. It’s got a great groove.
‘The Tower’ – the EP is now moving away from the optimism of a new journey. This track is filled with excerpts from audio files of men speaking with some effects on the words and tries to fulfil the brief of the human mind getting overloaded, although I think it’s tame – I’d imagine the overload would be far more chaotic. Not a track in any traditional sense, not even psychedelic or dreamscape, but as part of the overall story it fits.
‘Bells Of Time’ – bringing both the beat and the vibes right down this track represents the slipping of consciousness as madness takes hold. There is a defined rhythm integrated with off beats but a consistency we can relate to – and it does give you the feeling of time passing as clocks tick – linking back to ‘Lone Camp’ which had a ticking vibe to it. This is very atmospheric and very listenable as it digs into your imagination.
‘People Gather’ – track about watching people lose their humanity and you are unable to prevent it. Another atmospheric piece, with more instrumental effects and effected speech although you can make out what is being said. If you can’t, the feeling of the track gives you the indication of what it’s about. It’s not a happy day, melancholic siren song music which you can imagine luring your sanity away – then the beats increase towards the end of the track which almost gives you a panic and then stops abruptly – have we died? Maybe.
George has used a huge influence of traditional music styles from across the globe, which he has blended very well and which makes this listenable. This is definitely an experimental genre and rightly so – you have to experiment to break boundaries. An interesting EP, worth at least one listen to try something completely different and open your mind to how transfixing and unique each artist can be.
George stuck to his brief, told his story within 5 tracks and I’ve gone from happy optimism to losing all hope – which I think is exactly what he was trying to achieve.