William Emmanuel Bevan,[3][4] known by his recording alias Burial, is a British electronic musician from South London.

"[9] Bevan grew up a fan of jungle and garage, having been introduced to the UK rave scene by his older brothers.

[10] In 2005, the label released the South London Boroughs EP, which collected tracks recorded by Burial for several years prior.

[14] There was much Mercury Prize-related coverage in tabloid newspapers in the UK, including speculation that Burial was either Richard D. James (Aphex Twin) or Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim).

[12] A blog entry stated, "I'm a lowkey person and I just want to make some tunes", as well as announcing a forthcoming four-track 12″, and thanking his fans for their support up to this point.

This began with "Moth" / "Wolf Cub", a collaboration with Four Tet, and Burial's own track "Fostercare" and EP Street Halo.

He developed this practice, experimenting with multi-part suites rather than conventional songs on a Massive Attack collaboration, "Four Walls" / "Paradise Circus",[16][17] and subsequent solo EPs Kindred (2012), Truant / Rough Sleeper (2012) and Rival Dealer (2013).

[37] AllMusic described Burial's recordings as "gloomy, dystopian soundscapes" which blend "fractured breakbeats with mysterious, pitch-shifted voices and loads of vinyl crackle, rainfall, and submerged video game sound effects.

Bevan claims to compose his music in Sound Forge, a digital audio editor, and to eschew the use of trackers and sequencers.

[39] Discussing his rhythmic affinities in an interview with writer Mark Fisher, Burial stated that: Something happens when I hear the subs, the rolling drums and vocals together.

[1]Of his production techniques, journalist Derek Walmsley wrote in The Wire: Burial decided at the outset to avoid at all costs the rigid, mechanistic path that eventually brought drum 'n' bass to a standstill.

To this end, his percussion patterns are intuitively arranged on the screen rather than rigidly quantized, creating minute hesitations and slippages in the rhythm.

His snares and hi-hats are covered in fuzz and phaser, like cobwebs on forgotten instruments, and the mix is rough and ready rather than endlessly polished.