So, this is what Burial looks like

The camera-shy U.K. dubstep producer Burial is probably the single most unlikely victim in human history of a tabloid-unmasking campaign, courtesy of the British fish wrap the Sun, which opined ridiculously that it might be an Aphex Twin or Fatboy Slim side project. The U.K. paper the Independent put some fuel on the fire by dropping Burial's real name in a February article about the Elliott School in south London, which Burial attended. So as the producer prepares to possibly appear at this year's Nationwide Mercury Prize ceremony (his fantastic album "Untrue" is hotly tipped for a win), he decided to put the kibosh on the reclusiveness thing and make his public debut.

Turns out that's he's a normal-looking dude named Will Bevan from south London who wears knit hats, and came out because the hype about his anonymity was distracting from the music. He posted this blog entry about it on his MySpace page:

hi

for a while theres been some talk about who i am , but its not a big deal
i wanted to be unknown because i just want it to be all about the tunes.
over the last year the unknown thing become an issue so im not into it any more.
im a lowkey person and i just want to make some tunes, nothing else. my names will bevan, im from south london, im keeping my head down and just going to finish my next album, theres going to be a 12" maybe in the next few weeks too with 4 tunes. hope u like it, i'll try put a tune up later

sorry for any rubbish tunes i made in the past, ill make up for it

a big big thank you to anyone who ever supported me, liked my tunes or sent me messages, it means the world to me

big up everyone, take care, will ( burial )

I'll admit that I fell pretty hard for Burial's whole ephemeral-anonymity kick. I was sort of hoping that when/if Burial came out of his murky dub closet, he'd turn out to be female or a wizened, forgotten soul producer. This Guardian interview certainly added to that "Teenage Dubplates to God" mythos. Now that he's gone public, though, he probably has some explaining to do to his circle of friends, beyond those "five people who knew I made tunes."

-- August Brown

Photo from Burial's MySpace page

Comments

[Fisk]

The Sun does like ruining things. As if anyone who reads such crap actually cares who Burial is, has actually heard of him, or listens to his music?

[grim]

frisk the reason why you'v not heard of burial is cos u clearly dont know wot real muxic is, the guys a favourite nominee for a mercury, yeah like no one cares....fool