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Massive Attack's Mezzanine: A Paranoia Masterpiece
16 Aug
Summary
- Mezzanine, released in the mid-late '90s, defined trip-hop's anxious sound.
- The album captures Massive Attack's sense of near-suffocating dread and alienation.
- Lyrically, Mezzanine explores themes of failed relationships and numbing dishonesty.
Massive Attack's 1997 album, Mezzanine, is recognized as the definitive statement of the trip-hop genre it helped define, despite the band's efforts to move beyond it. This release, part of a de facto Bristol trilogy, contrasts with Tricky's youthful energy and Portishead's emotional intensity by focusing on near-suffocating dread and alienation. The album systematically dismantled any sense of hope, presenting a world where relationships and social spaces offer no escape from encroaching anxiety.
Mezzanine's lyrical content exacerbates this atmosphere. Songs like "Inertia Creeps" depict sex as a hollow exchange between "two undernourished egos," highlighting the numbness of failing relationships. Robert "3D" Del Naja's raspy vocals convey exhaustion, while "Dissolved Girl" features guest vocalist Sarah Jay Hawley reinforcing themes of passion's overrated nature. Grant "Daddy G" Marshall's lyrics on "Risingson" articulate the boredom and anxiety of being trapped with someone, expressing a desperate desire to leave.
