Massive Attack Master Sonic Alchemy With Heligoland

When the Tapeworm project between Trent Reznor, Maynard Keenan and an assorted dream team of contributing musicians was killed for contractual reasons, Reznor made a comment that if the music had been great, they would’ve found a way to release it. The bar is set higher than most others when the leading talent in any field collaborates on a project, and sometimes the end result falls short of vision. Other times, perfect harmony is found and evolution’s hand is forced. In the case of Massive Attack’s long-awaited Heligoland, it seems the latter applies.

Serving as both a nod to the defining albums of the genre cluster Massive Attack belongs to and a call to evolution, on the broad stroke Heligoland is at times more under the world music umbrella than trip-hop. 3D and Daddy G have never been known for the easy kill, and after an LP dry spell of nearly seven years, the duo return with a formidable dose of star-studded smoky subtlety and simmering ambient suspense in place of uptempo dance-remix bait and the skittering Eurotrash beats the kneejerking scenesters long for.

While pushing down walls of definition, the sound touches on Portishead, veers toward DJ Shadow (damn closely on Atlas Air, which could be Organ Donor’s kid sister), recruits Blur/Gorillaz frontman and pre-emptive 2010 musical VIP Damon Albarn, as well as the inimitably lovely Martina Topley-Bird for a collaborative feast of talent. Co-produced by Neil Davidge (who also played bass) and Tim Goldsworthy, as well as D and G, the checks and balances on consistency and sound dynamics are remarkably lush and seamless, enhanced by the minimalism of the entire work.

The deep, rhythmic drum presence on several tracks, particularly lead-in track Pray For Rain, give the most immediate indication of the album’s minimalist power. It’s an interesting opener, given its presence on last year’s Splitting The Atom EP, but its timelessness is undiminished; it’s one of those songs that feels as if it’s been there all along. Like rolling thunder under TV On The Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe’s uncharacteristically ghostly Twilight Zone tenor, the live drums are hypnotically commanding and help raise this track to the ranks of their very best.

The cold jitter of Babel is thawed by the breathy, sweetly gorgeous vocals of Topley-Bird, floating in and stealing the show entirely. The track’s an enticing setup to the dreamy, dark carnival of Splitting The Atom, flashing the teat that Gorillaz fed upon to build their sound (Albarn plays bass on the track). Roots reggae master Horace Andy’s chameleonesque transition between Atom and a Girl I Love You is noteworthy, moving from haunting depths to Inner Circle style crooning over layered rhythms and freighter horn blasts.

Deepening the evidence that Heligoland is among the best collaborative projects of our generation, Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval shimmers with seductive, silken whispers over handclaps and a minimalist chord progression on rainy day mixtape-bait Paradise Circus, while Elbow’s Guy Garvey channels Bowie’s pondering alien on Flat Of The Blade, his warm tones rising from a fluttering electronic wash. As he sings of being made to “kneel at the feet of the choices you make,” a brass section rises like the morning sun before fading like a sigh, faster than it came.

3D’s cognac-smooth delivery on Rush Minute as the song builds from sparse guitar and drums to melancholic swirls are just as warm and beckoning as Inertia Creeps, though more subdued than on the lusty Mezzanine track. Likewise, Damon Albarn’s urgent vulnerability to the chorus of Saturday Come Slow is jarring, contrasting the light breeze of the acoustic-guitar driven verses. Gentle, rainy-day reflective and rolling like some cadenced thunder, the only complaint to be made is that it’s not twice as long.

To call Heligoland a successor to 100th Window wouldn’t be inaccurate, but would diminish the album’s thermosphere-scraping impression, where only the best know how to breathe. Massive Attack have proven their mettle once more as trend-setting masters of collaboration and ambience, growing organic textures in electronic jungles and pushing just enough envelopes to not alienate their core. As with their previous releases, it will be fascinating to see what other artists’ sounds are spawned from Heligoland’s inspiration.