White Dune - RARE EARTH

Released: September 4

A long running side project of Minneapolis-based percussionist and electronic musician Dave Power, White Dune is understandably intensely rhythmically focused. While typically staying in the realm of IDM and downtempo, RARE EARTH continues this but with a notable dive into harsher textures and pounding drums that venture into the territory of tribal and industrial. For much of the albums runtime, we get tossed between these two territories, alternating between soft pads with chilled drums and intense pounding rhythms with layers of glitch and distortion. As an example, there’s the slow pace of “HOLD THE CENTER”  with a relaxed almost island-like rhythm and soft distorted piano keys, the latter of which provides a rough touch on top of the otherwise smooth vibes. But this is immediately followed by the intense and heavy tribal rhythms of “HOLMIUM,” a track that is incredibly percussion-driven but also shows a tendency to abandon that rhythm in a complete dissolution into glitchy noise. 

A big strength of the album in my opinion is that willingness to jump all over different themes and moods while keeping a cohesive vibe throughout. Being a drummer, one assumes that everything here will be rhythmically-based. And while that mainly holds true, there are moments that truly surprise. “BABYLON BLOD CLOT”  comes in which a sense of a beat, though it is subdued. There’s a sort of sidechain effect going on that makes the rhythm feel subtractive, as if it is taking pieces out of the surrounding noise to create the beat without pronounced drum hits. But even with this, there’s still this sense of a tribal/industrial motif that makes it feel more energetic than one might naturally assume. Then, with the final track, we get something that dives headlong into ambient territory. This short piece feature but a snag glimpse of drums, only to throw them out almost immediately in favor of swelling pads and soft textures. It’s a surprisingly diverse album, filled with many different textures and an overall inventive and captivating approach to rhythm.