Underworld 'Barbara Barbara, We Face A Shining Future' review

Image: Underworld 

It is without doubt that Underworld are a staple influence of any electronic contemporary. On Barbara... the British electronic group tip the scale to create something entirely in the present yet consciously rooted in the Underworld music many grew up with during the nineties.

Glaring into a hover-board congested future has always been at the core of their music, and it still is, but during a time when we're more accustomed to otherworldly sounds frequenting the mainstream, it emphasises how influential and forward-thinking they are more than two decades on. 

The release of Barbara Barbara, We Face A Shining Future, a title that references what Smith's late Father said to his mother before he died, echoes the period in which Dubnobasswithmyheadman was followed by Second Toughest in the Infants and the close relationship between rock and dance music in popular culture. 

Underworld's seventh album arrives during a time when music is experiencing a similar state, yet they seem to posses an inherent ability to blend the two better than anyone else: binding otherworldly synth-riffs with unhinged utterances, they form an album that could play out on Radio 1 as equally as it is enigmatic.

After all, in the void between 2010's Barking which saw various solo projects including Hyde linking up with Brian Eno and Smith with Danny Boyle, they were invited to soundtrack the opening ceremony 2012 Olympics by the latter - the ultimate summoning for any British musician.   

Lead single 'I Exhale' is the most accessible on the album, an acoustic-percussion enforced stretch of stripped back hedonism. A bass-ey synth-hook caresses the entire song, while Hyde communicates arbitrary utterances over a vocal sample that peculiarly whispers "stare, stare, like a bear, call your mother ginger hair".

It's Hyde's succinct chanting delivered in a distant tribal format that largely defines this dark brooding album. 'If Rah' is most engaging in this thought: a slow-burning stomp eventually builds to a trademark example of masterful synth-work and enchanting declarations of "lunar, lunar, lunar". 

If any of the album were to take you back to their earlier influential works, 'Low Burn' is most reminiscent of Smith and Hyde's pre-millennial practices.

By far the most danceable of the bunch, the melody provokes undeniable feelings of ecstasy, enhanced by whirling woodwind and Smith hushing "First time, be bold, be beautiful, free, totally, unlimited" - harking the de-facto mantra of any self-respecting dance floor.

With seven song titles imprinted into the album index, this trio of songs is the most impressionable on the record. 'Santiago Cuatro' is contrastingly gloomier in tone to a chunk of the album, propelled by flamenco guitar strings to create a perplexing interlude mid-listen. 

Their final call comes courtesy of 'Nylon Strung', a trademark meddling of analogue synths that stares into the bright lights of the new wave era.

Ultimately less thought-provoking than others, it reminds us of why we connect with dance music and for many why Underworld are at the basis of that.  

Read: Jean Michel Jarre and Underworld to play new Jodrell Bank festival