Massive Attack: Heligoland
It’s been seven long years since Massive Attack’s last album proper, 100th Window. But it’s a testament to how much of an imprint they’ve left on musical history that despite the gap, their live performances have continued to sell out within minutes - and the fact that, for any Massive Attack fan their shows can be nothing short of a religious experience.
When a band is as pivotal to a genre as Massive Attack were to Trip Hop – a term they refuted from the beginning, not wishing to be pigeonholed - it’s often hard to relate them to anything else. It’s rare for artists to break away and sound contemporary year after year, and those that do aren’t capable without involving a huge PR machine and a few stylists.
The band’s protestations have rung true, for Heligoland is a timeless album. It’s diverse and features enough collaborative talent (Damon Albarn, honey-voiced Martina Topley-Bird, Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star) to sound relevant. This is not to say their previous albums have not, and in fact Heligoland at times sounds like a less dark Mezzanine, their most commercially successful record to date which is still played in bars/cars/homes around the world.
Heligoland opens with the blues/gospel-influenced Pray for Rain, featuring the deep voice of TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe. The sparse instrumentation, brooding voice and melancholy melody suggest this may turn out to be another introspective, moody set of songs, but next track Babel shatters any illusion of what is to yet to come with Topley-Bird’s sultry vocals taking over. She reappears on Psyche, where her voice is given centre stage with a handful of poetic lyrics (“And when you call I’ll be your shield for life, and if you feel it you will fly”).
Flat of the Land creates an atmosphere of paranoia thanks to Guy Garvey’s slow motion lyrics (“How does it feel, the weight of the steel, the weight of the steel of the flat of the blade”), and another awe-inspiring vocalist, Hope Sandoval, seems to be longing for something on Paradise Circus. Albarn contributes to Saturday come Slow, where again, he appears to be longing, this time for love.
The album closes with classic Massive Attack; Atlas Air has all the ingredients that made a song like Inertia Creeps as hypnotic and intense as it is. The beat slows down very slightly before speeding back up again, the keys change, the bassline pounds non-stop throughout, and Del Naja’s whisper penetrates through it all.
The songs themselves are simple; there are no flourishes, over-production or grand arrangements – Splitting the Atom pretty much has two chords throughout along with the voices of Andy, Marshall and Del Naja. Such simplicity can be jarring at first – and I’ll admit it took me two listens to truly appreciate the album. But a great album it certainly is; the vocalists command the songs, the lyrics are powerful as ever, and the lack of conventional song structures only serve as testament to the duo’s talent.
In short, this is not a pop album, it never intended to be. The dark soundscapes of Mezzanine meant that no one expected it to be a chart topper, but Teardrop - which remains their best known track - did the unthinkable and millions around the world rushed out to record shops. Massive Attack have released the album they wanted to. Welcome back.
Heligoland was released on Monday 8th on Virgin.
