The Depths · All albums

Mezzanine

Massive Attack · 1998

• Zone: Shallows (level 2 of 5)
• Genre: Electronic, Trip-hop
• Mood: paranoid, cold, smoldering
• Sound: dark slow beats, heavy guitar samples, sparse bass, whispered vocals

Mezzanine is where Massive Attack dropped the jazzy, laid-back trip hop of their earlier records for something darker and heavier. Recorded in 1997 and produced by the band with Neil Davidge, it is built from slow, bass-heavy beats, abstract ambient textures and fuzzed guitars, with vocals from Horace Andy, Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins and Sarah Jay Hawley. Robert Del Naja’s early demos sampled post-punk bands like Wire and Gang of Four, and the finished album draws on post-punk, industrial music, dub and hip hop, using samples from the Velvet Underground, Isaac Hayes and a Turkish recording he made in Istanbul. The tracks were rebuilt and abandoned repeatedly during production, which gives it a restless, claustrophobic feel.

Track list

1. Angel
2. Risingson
3. Teardrop
4. Inertia Creeps
5. Exchange
6. Dissolved Girl
7. Man Next Door
8. Black Milk
9. Mezzanine
10. Group Four
11. (Exchange)