“…Pardon and Mannerfelt prove that there can be incredible beauty in sheer simplicity and that working under pressure can lead to amazing bursts of creativity. Roll the Dice is such a refreshingly different and surprising experience that giving it the highest recommendation is a no-brainer…”
(October 2010) Roll the Dice are Swedish duo Malcolm Pardon (The Subliminal Kid and Fever Ray collaborator) and Peder Mannerfelt, and this eponymously titled album previously released by Digitalis as a vinyl-only edition has subsequently been issued in a repackaged CD version with two additional tracks and – for some weird reason – completely different and vastly inferior cover artwork.
Without wanting to overstate things too much, there’s a genuinely infectious quality to this Roll the Dice that belies the low-key release it received back in April. It may simply have been lost in the sea of kosmiche and analogue synth albums we’ve been seeing, which is a shame because it has every bit as much to offer as recent works from the likes of Emeralds, Oneohtrix Point Never or Rene Hell. It’s an even more pleasant surprise given the working restrictions Mannerfelt and Pardon placed upon themselves: they were to enter the studio with no preconceived ideas (though how fully it is possible to meet this particular requirement I’m not quite sure) with nothing but a piano, some old analogue synths, no computer processing or drum machines and the proviso that each track must be completed within a single day.
With a rustic, airy atmosphere, minimal arrangement and completely unprocessed piano playing a central role in many of these pieces there’s a lightness to the work that will have many electronic music listeners shuffling off into the shadows mumbling darkly to themselves. There may be dark undercurrents here and there but ‘Roll the Dice’ is generally a rather comforting experience, one that might actually raise a smile and make you happy. The horror! Not that it’s all shiny and fluffy in the RTD world, far from it, as a disparate array of moods and sound palettes can be heard across the nine compositions on Roll the Dice, Pardon and Mannerfeld clearly determined to avoid repeating themselves as much as possible.
“The New Black” employs a retro, phasing analogue helicopter pulse and darkly muted piano keys to moody effect, but this is immediately followed by the playful, almost child-like piano-lesson melodies of “Axel” coupled with rhythmic clonking effects. “Guadeloupe” is chock-full of atmospheric analogue paraphernalia encased in shallow pools of reverb, the hollow gulping synth keys and introspective piano melodies sounding uncannily similar to various versions of Brian Eno’s “Fractal Zoom.” The jagged teeth of “Into The Ground” are momentarily visible as it fires random sonic sparks in every direction but then the mood quickly shifts again to the wistful melancholia of “After,” full of rainbow-coloured bubbles and gurgling synths.
There are also two long, slow-burning, cumulative pieces, both characterised by a gradual build up and moody deconstruction. “Swing” is the most effective of the two: spongy, hazy, cushioned synths and a mournful background piano are paired well with fizzy melodic pads. The sparser (and longer) “Undertow” on the other hand, veers dangerously close to outstaying it’s welcome: it would be quite hypnotic if it weren’t for the strange, rubbery trumpeting the plays throughout. Only one track on Roll the Dice comes off as a filler, though, “Into The Mild” little more than a repeated, low-bass arpeggio, some annoying clinking and a field recording of someone entering a building.
Pardon and Mannerfelt prove that there can be incredible beauty in sheer simplicity and that working under pressure can lead to amazing bursts of creativity. Roll the Dice is such a refreshingly different and surprising experience that giving it the highest recommendation is a no-brainer.
Roll The Dice is out now on Digitalis Industries. [Listen | Purchase]
