When it comes to In Dust by Roll the Dice (their second release) one must ignore the zealous ‘analogue is so cool’ crowd and the occasional exhalations of promotional hoo-hah. Music of this craftsmanship and quality deserves to be heard in spite of how the cultural winds are blowing.

The Roll the Dice sound is a colloidal musical suspension containing elements of Cluster, Coil, Brian Eno, moody Funki Porcini, and globules of Broadcast syrup. The In Dust album reverberates with a somewhat incomplete aural history of electronica, which means it’s fascinating and frustrating. Frustrating because if you are looking for the album to settle into an obvious narrative, like many albums do, you will be disappointed. Not a bad thing because it may get some listeners outside their (narrative) comfort zone and into something rather un-pop. Also, if you are familiar with the bands mentioned above then In Dust might veer a bit much towards the cozily familiar. On the other hand, the album is fascinating in the way it pulls apart the last 30-odd years of electronica (i.e., the neo-Clockwork Orange sounds towards the end of “The Skull is Built into the Tool” or the TDream-style sequencer line that concludes “Way Out”) and recombines it into warm, new shapes. The non-narrative cast of the album could make it attractive to the more chilled adherents of ADD-electronica as well. 

The Swedish duo Roll the Dice have crafted a wonderful album which is moody enough for deep headphone-listening, while providing adequate bounce for those cool trips down an icy highway in January. Just take the time to enjoy all those landscapes drifting by…..