Bristol-based trip hop pioneers Massive Attack have recently released an eerie, abstract and beautiful video for “The Spoils” (starring Cate Blanchett and some spine-chilling special effects), which is part of a two-song release along with “Come Near Me (ft. Ghostpoet)” - a follow up to January’s Ritual Spirit (2016) EP, which is the first proper Massive Attack production since 2010.
The brooding and contemplative track generally fits into the modernist gothic emotional template they put forth on Ritual Spirit, which AllMusic's Andy Kellman describes as an EP "richly detailed and downcast tracks with vocals that, depending on the tempo, evoke urgent and creeping forms of fear and dread." Long time fans will undoubtedly rejoice in how Massive Attack have stayed true and advance their "darkly sensual and cinematic fusion of hip-hop rhythms, soulful melodies, dub grooves, and choice samples" (Jason Ankeny, AllMusic).
The track features stellar vocals from American singer-songwriter and Mazzy Star frontwoman Hope Sandoval, who brilliantly complements the track's claustrophobic atmosphere of dread and menace (which is punctuated with hard-won moments of transcendence) with her clear, graceful and weightless enunciation. The poignant lyrics reflect the position of a woman coming to terms with the fact that her loved one now finds solace in someone else's embrace:
'I got that feeling, that bad feeling that you don’t knowI don’t even know her but I hope that she comforts you tonight
Nobody here that keeps you in the shade and ever owned youSome sentimental tears or someone else’s girl that drips awayBut I somehow slowly love youAnd wanna keep you the sameWell, I somehow slowly know youAnd wanna keep you away'
Lyrics: Lyricsfa
