Following techno music is a little like following the stock market or playing fantasy baseball: There's a major emphasis on what or who's hot at any given moment. Fans sniff out gems, report on hot streaks, predict hot streaks. Just like anything based on speculating, things can change quickly; there are market forces at work. More so than most of her peers, Ellen Allien is in control of her own stock. She's a career artist-- in addition to her music, she runs Bpitch Control and a fashion label-- and her moves are large and purposeful. This has occasionally led to releases that felt calculated-- 2008's Sool was her "minimal" album-- but in sum have made Allien worth tracking through a career, not just through a particularly creative stretch. Dust, Allien's latest album, again redefines her, this time as a melancholy techno-pop songwriter with interests well outside her Berlin techno sphere.
Dust mines similar territory as Allien's still seminal Berlinette, lacking that album's sturdy radiance but offering plenty of veteran risk-taking. There's steely electro, lilting synth-pop, and a calm salsa. One song sounds like the xx, another like Goldfrapp. During "Sun the Rain", the xx soundalike, Allien sings, "Some days life feels so easy," which is perfect: Allien's statuses as scene leader and lifetime artist seem assured, and Dust sounds like a fun, comfortable reflection of that.
An inveterate collaborator, Allien worked with German producer Tobias Freund on Dust. A shapeshifter himself, Freund helps Allien navigate the album's veering styles. Allien is a rich sound designer, embedding earworms into deceptively simple productions. "You" is a straightforward bass-and-guitars affair until its bridge opens up, briefly, to teardrop synths. "Should We Go Home", the album's longest and loosest track, emerges from a long beatless passage with a burrowing two-note patch. Allien gets into trouble only when she slips into old habits. She overplays her hand a bit on "Flashy Flashy", repeating, mantra-like, "Flashy flashy flashy flashy disco lights" in a husky whisper. We get it: dance music can be facile and image-conscious and still fun. Her insistence on adding her treated voice to nearly every track kills the momentum of those that don't need it.
Allien's earned the right to experiment, but more importantly, she's earned patience. If you can't cotton to "Huibuh"'s gentle playfulness or "Sun the Rain"'s guitar pop, you might be missing the point of an artist like Allien. Dust isn't necessarily brave-- Allien has approached territory like this before-- but it's definitely a departure, with just one track, "Ever", offering clubby beatmaking. Techno fans already love Allien's old work. Dust offers new challenges: to enjoy her stumbles, to trust her instincts.
