100th Window - Massive Attack

100th Window

Massive Attack
Virgin Records.


SCQ Rating: 83%

A new Massive Attack record has become comparable to a new Prince or Kate Bush record in that it’s a minor event for audiophiles everywhere. Even for people who don’t necessarily like one of these artists, it’s difficult to ignore the urge to read whether their new album is being well received or not. Despite only having four official Lps to their name, Massive Attack have become one of those acts not only because, like Prince or Bush, they’ve changed the face of modern music, but also because the Bristol group sport perhaps the most eclectic and uneven discography in all of modern electronic music.

Three years after Blue Lines changed lives and gave trip-hop to the world, Robert Del Naja & Co. released their heavily-hyped sophomore Protection, which beyond a small band of great songs was considered a disappointing retread of previous achievements and some careless blunders (who thinks to finish a record with a live cover of ‘Light My Fire’?). Four years later, Massive Attack garnered their greatest success yet with Mezzanine, an electronic-goth record that sampled Isaac Hayes and the Cure, while enlisting the Cocteau Twin’s Elizabeth Fraser to join their ranks. Ten years later, Mezzanine remains the most vital and successful offering of the trip-hop movement.

2003: Trip-hop’s long out of fashion and Massive Attack has become a virtual solo-project for Del Naja, who witnessed the departure of Tricky, Tracey Thorn and finally, Horace Andy. If Protection sounded like a younger sibling imitating Blue Lines, 100th Window must be the half-blood relation from Mezzanine’s secret affair; heartless in philosophy and mechanical in emotion, this is the perfect document for Massive Attack in the 21st Century – abandoned, frigid, yet resourceful as ever.

Through the Massive Attack revolving-door this time is Sinead O’Connor, Neil Davidge and even a cameo by Horace Andy, which collaboratively gives 100th Window its voice. O’Connor’s trademark voice fits surprisingly well to the dark soundscapes, and supplies the clear contrast to Del Naja’s hushed speak-singing. She’s the new girl in the MA camp, but her nomination was well-considered and deftly placed on both ‘Special Cases’ and ‘A Prayer for England’.

The real show-stopper here is Del Naja’s production, which can be devastating in the head-nodding chill-out of ‘Small Time Shot Away’ or the twisted break-beat of ‘Butterfly Caught’. In other corners, there is a recurring presence of Mid-East strings, which like O’Connor’s voice, manage to feel at home amidst such sterile surroundings. Unlike Mezzanine, however, these beats rarely intensify or morph into an unexpected bridge, and with more than half these songs being well over seven minutes, 100th Window is certainly bloated.

I believe this to be one of the record’s most divisive qualities among critics and fans: that inevitably, whether you’ll enjoy this Massive Attack album or not comes down to what you’re in it for. This is the first MA album that is minimal in scope but ambitious in its texture and detail, so if that sounds boring, 100th Window is where you get out.

Listen to Massive Attack here.