Underworld - Barbara Barbara, We Face A Shining Future (CD, 2025 Reissue)

Underworld were hardly inactive after releasing Barking in 2010; still, their 2016 album Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future was widely regarded as a major comeback for the duo. The big, boxy, crashing drums of ‘I Exhale’ were enough to grab attention, while gushing with distortion and heavy guitar strums that many cited as a return to form. 

Steely staccato words are spoken over razoring techno beeps just as they were in the days of Underworld yore, but the album’s midpoint throws a left turn with ‘Santiago Cuatro’, its rapid ancient plucks reverberating over a drone, leading into the prickly chirping microbeats of ‘Motor Home’ which coalesce into a bagpipe powered wildness.