This is Britain’s Douglas Benford’s third release under the Si-{Cut}.db moniker, and it is stylish, high caliber headphone music. Disparate beats shake the foundation of simple, congruent melodies throughout this record. “Stop London Sinking” fits this scenario perfectly with steel-drum sounding keyboards twinkling happy little melodies while the breaks in the rhythm succeed in distorting the flow. “Scream Like A Girl” layers dark, Depeche Mode-type synths over top a high end music box refrain that is very unsettling. Benford’s tendency to keep the beats per minute up while slow, lugubrious melodies hang in the balance is a hackneyed trick but one that he pulls off well.

Benford separates himself from contemporaries like Luke Vibert and DJ Shadow by avoiding hip-hop influences altogether. His electronic excursions are very European (i.e. whitebread), but they work even without the melting pot method of some of his peers. “Rate Of Living” is a relatively cold and distant record with the only trace of emotion or humanity popping up in the song titles (“Why Implants Killed Porn For Me” being a fine example). However, it’s this very same coldness that makes this record so escapist.