Album: Zomby, Dedication (4AD)

The more you listen to Dedication, the more alluring Zomby's stripped-back eskibeat dubstep pieces become. They're like small, beautiful flowers that only bloom the more familiar they become.

Most involve little more than an electro stutter, a treated sample, a one-finger synth line, and maybe a fingerclick, but Zomby creates a small, self-regulating world from these few elements. Unlike a lot of digital music, it's not about what to add, more how little a piece needs to succeed, like the broken fragments of vocal in "Natalia's Song", the sped-up gamelan of "Florence", or the gentle tribal tom-tom and vibes used to create the miniature exotica of "Salamander". But there's a pervasive haunted sense of loss and melancholy that links these 16 tracks together, giving Dedication a depth and elegance not often found in more dance-focused dubstep.

DOWNLOAD THIS Natalia's Song; Things Fall Apart; Alothea; Digital Rain